SHDE before shadow
by TheWolfbane987
Summary: Following the aftermath of the Grimm uprising, SHDE must rise to meet new threats, meeting new allies and enemies along the way. But when darkness calls, will they be ready to meet it in battle?
1. Chapter 1

**And I'm back, after taking sometime to get things straightened out both personally and story-wise, i know where i want this go, this is still a sequel to Team SHDE. I have high hopes about this.**

It had been several weeks since Shayne and his team had protected Beacon from an army of Grimm hell bent on killing all in their path, Shayne's uncle had been killed and a memorial raised in his memory. It was the Christmas break, Dundra and Eddi were visiting Eddi's family, Hanna had gone to see her Dad in Mistral and Lina had gone back to Managerie, to stay with her family for the holidays. Shayne had been invited to all of his teammates festivities, but had declined, he had no right imposing himself on them at this time of year, that was about a week ago.

Shayne had been filling his time with working out in the Gym, honing his technique and upgrading his equipment. He had given one of his Katanas an update that allowed for better use on Grimm after his battle. Now when he drew it, it became sharpened like a mirrors edge, making it unusable against humans in sparring in case he sliced them in half. There was a knock on the door, Shayne wasn't expecting anyone until eleven, and he slowly made his way to the door, picking his knife from the counter top. He opened the door carefully keeping the blade out of sight, Velvet was standing there;

"Hey Shayne"

"Hey Velvet I wasn't expecting you until later"

She folded her arms; Velvets family lived in Atlas and she had missed the last Bullhead out, she had spent every day with Shayne since then;

"Haven't you checked the time?"

"No, I thought you were coming at eleven?"

"Shayne it is eleven" Shayne blinked twice and turned to look at the clock, sure enough it was a couple of minutes past eleven

"Sorry Velvet, I hadn't realised what time it was…."

"It's okay Shayne, you are ready to go though, right?" she asked stepping in as he closed the door

"No, not as such"

She smiled;

"Fine, I'll wait while you get sorted"

Shayne went and had a quick shower; Velvet resisted the urge to join him. He dressed in the bathroom, and came out doing up his bandanna. He went and sheathed his blades leaving his disassembled pistol where it lay; he had taken it apart to clean it and couldn't get it back together again, _'I am going to wait for Eddi to get back before trying again', _he thought as he made his way to the door.

"You coming?" he asked holding the door open, Shayne was wearing his winter jacket with the hood it completely covered his ears, and because of his ears it never blew off in the wind.

Velvet stepped out, Shayne followed directly after her. On their way into Vale, Shayne noticed that Frank hadn't gone back to Managerie and went over to him.

"Frank, I thought you had gone to see your parents"

"Yeah Shayne, I did, they didn't care what time of the year it was, they told me to come back and study" he said sullenly

"Well me and Velvet are headed into town, your welcome to join us" Shayne said sitting next to him

"Thanks for the offer Shayne, but I think I'm going to go back to my dorm to be alone with my thoughts" Shayne had been less hard on him since the attack on Beacon.

Shayne left him sat there and called back to him;

"Frank, you will join us on Christmas though, right?"

Frank smiled and called back;

"We'll see Shayne"

* * *

Shayne and Velvet went into town and bought gifts for those stuck at Beacon, Shayne had asked Ozpin if he could throw a Christmas dinner in the auditorium and he had agreed. They split up as they were buying gifts for each other as well. Shayne got her a dark leather purse. He met up with her at a coffee shop for a drink some time later, she had bought gifts for the girls while Shayne had bought for the boys, he got Frank a bottle of whiskey, _'he needs it at the moment, so I won't save it for Christmas'_.

On the way back, Shayne spotted two people he had never seen before, one carried a pair of cutlasses at his waist while his female companion carried multiple pistols, she also had a cutlass at her waist but her hands rested on her pistols, meaning she used those as her main form of attack.

The male stopped in Shayne's way and held up his hand, Shayne and Velvet stopped.

He asked them a question; Velvet couldn't hear it due to her earmuffs. Shayne did and he didn't like where it was going;

"Hand over your wallets or this is going to get ugly"

"No, I'm not giving you my wallet"

"Take a look around, all these people will watch you die if you don't"

"I hardly think I'll be the one dying" his left arm went to his sword instinctively

The would be thieves' eyes went to his arm; they recoiled slightly and took a step back, placing their hands on their weapons. Shayne saw this, and using a combination of Grimm and Dust he formed a black fireball in his palm, Shayne had used Lina's rings to upgrade his gauntlets to do the same as they did.

They drew their weapons and moved back again;

"Do you know who we are?" the female called to Shayne

"No, and I don't really care, but I guess you're going to tell me anyway"

"We are the Genesis Twins, we came here looking for treasures; this place is too developed to have anything not in a museum. We heard tell of a man with dark tattoos, they say he is as strong as hunters come" the male said as the crowd of people noticed the drawn weapons, the female looked at her Scroll, she had just received a message.

"We know that you possess a Grimm, now you will come with us, someone wants to see you" she held up her Scroll "Be it the hard way or the easy way" the female said again

Most people in Vale had heard about Shayne by now, though almost none of them had ever seen him fight. He took another look at the 'Genesis Twins' once more, they wore what seemed to be fancy dress costumes, they looked like the pirates from stories that parents told their children at night. He had a long dark blue coat, with gold buttons and large boots, he wore striped trousers. She wore something similar to that of her partner. _'How did I not notice these two until they were almost right in front of me',_ he drew his Katana and held it ready in his right hand.

The male came at him first, swinging his twin swords quickly, trying to disarm Shayne; luckily Shayne had found a student at Beacon with a similar style to his attacker, so he was prepared for it. Shayne parried both of the blades and effortlessly broke his guard and kicked him in the stomach. His partner took the opportunity to begin firing at Shayne who brought up a wall of Grimm ensuring that the bullets wouldn't ricochet into the crowd. He advanced as she fired; switching guns as she ran out of ammo, as he reached her, Shayne swept her legs and caught her mid fall, throwing her to her partner.

She landed on him, they both got up and went for Shayne simultaneously, with him going low forcing Shayne to jump, and her sending a kick to his gut, Shayne went flying back through the air landing in a low crouched position, holding his sword behind him and dragging his clawed gauntlet on the ground as he slid backwards. He stood up and hurled a black fireball at them and they dived away from it in opposite directions. They circled him until he was directly between them, they both struck at the same time, Shayne did a standing side flip, rolling between the blades, he landed and went behind the female his sword to her throat.

"Drop your weapons now" he said applying the tiniest amount of pressure against her throat

Shayne pushed her over to him and he kicked the weapons over to them;

"Now I'm going to leave and you are too, in the opposite direction" he pointed his blade at them as he and Velvet returned to Beacon.

* * *

Several days later it was Christmas and the meal was in progress, the students that had to stay behind laughed and talked as if they were old friends even though they had barely met before that day, Shayne was sat between Frank and Velvet, she was still wary of him since the incident a few weeks ago. They ate quietly; Shayne had given Frank his bottle of whiskey when they had gotten back from town. Shayne got up and went to talk to Ozpin.

"Professor, it seems that this went well, doesn't it"

"Indeed it does, congratulations on a good idea, it seems that Miss Scarlatina has taken a liking to Frank as well" Shayne looked at him confused, Ozpin motioned to where he had been sat;

Frank had changed seats and was now sat next to Velvet who was blushing slightly, Shayne shook his head in disbelief, _'a few weeks ago I wouldn't have believed it, but Frank has changed recently'._ Shayne returned to them and he sat down, he told Frank that it was fine that they had swapped.

"Frank, don't screw this up, she's a nice girl, if you do anything to hurt her, like you almost did a while back, I won't be so forgiving" Shayne said quietly as Velvet went to get another drink

"Shayne, the other day while you were out, I sat in my dorm and I thought about the past, I realised that I had been lonely, I had been jealous of you and Lina when you first got together and I'm sorry for everything I did to the both of you" Shayne put his hand on his shoulder;

"I can see you mean that, I'm glad I have you as a friend now, and I don't expect you to forget Cardin as a friend because of this, you can still be friends, just layoff the other Faunus, if you need help doing that, just think of Velvet" Frank smiled and Velvet came back and they held hands for the rest of the evening. At around half eleven, Shayne bid the others goodnight and headed back to his dorm, Velvet went with Frank to his.

The days before term restarted were hectic as all the students had left the dorms in a mess so they were cleaning frantically so they would be like the others never left. Shayne hadn't made much of a mess outside his workstation, he cleaned nonetheless. The others returned the day before term began, as Dundra and Eddi came through the door, Shayne stood and embraced them both with Eddi kissing him on the cheek, Dundra said she had become a warmer person over Christmas, they told Shayne of their trip and whom they had met, along with all the stories that had been told. A few hours later Hanna came stumbling through the door, with more bags and luggage than she went with, Shayne and Dundra helped her get it stacked up against a wall for now, she told them how she and her father had finally mad an effort to be a family again, she thanked Shayne especially for this, he just smiled and nodded.

The last person that arrived was Lina she came in quietly at around midnight, only Shayne was awake; he had stayed up to wait for her. When she came in, they locked eyes and embraced and kissed for a minute or two, only stopping for air. Shayne told her he hadn't done anything she wouldn't approve of while she was gone. She just smiled.

"Shayne I want you, now" she said through her teeth, grabbing him by the shirt

"Lina we can't do it here, the others are asleep" he led her out of the dorm to the old dorm room. They stepped in and Shayne closed the door quietly so as not to disturb the other teams who were trying to sleep, Shayne kissed her fiercely, she ran her fingers through his hair and they fell onto a bed.

The night slowly turned to day.

Classes begin at 9 o'clock.

**Please leave a review if you feel that something is wrong or just because you want to, no pressure. and thank you for reading.**

**- TheWolfbane987**


	2. Chapter 2

The following days passed without incident until that weekend when teams RWBY and SHDE made their traditional trip into Beacon. They were settling down to enjoy their coffee, when 'they' walked in, catching Shayne's eye. 'Wonderful, these guys again' Shayne ignored them as best he could; they walked past and sat down behind him.

"Shayne, what's up, you look like you've seen a ghost" Dundra asked quizzically

"Nothing Dundra I'm just tired, that's all" Shayne took out his Scroll and deftly typed a message to him;

'The guys behind me, they know me from somewhere and attacked me, before you guys came back' Dundra looked up concerned and angry, Shayne shook his head as Dundra almost got up.

Dundra knew what Shayne wanted, he sat back down and they waited patiently, eventually the male turned around and asked for Brown sugar, Shayne ignored him;

"Hey, buddy I asked for the sugar" he said to the others "Is he deaf or something" he got close to Shayne's ear and said loudly "Helloooo, can you hear me I said, can I have some brown sugar please" he went to put a hand on Shayne's shoulder, just before connecting, Shayne grabbed his wrist, his claw digging into his skin. He took one look at the claw and he paled.

"S-sorry, there buddy, I'll just use white sugar" he tried to pull his hand away, Lina had to zap him to get Shayne to let go.

Shayne stood up and walked out Lina chased after him;

"Shayne, what the fuck was that! All he asked for was some brown sugar" she yelled

"Lina they attacked me and Velvet, I outmatched them and told them to leave, they didn't take my advice"

"Shayne what do you mean?"

"Velvet and I were in town getting stuff for Christmas sorted, when they came out of the crowd and tried to rob me"

"Shayne, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it would ever come to light"

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to go back to Beacon and go to the Gym"

"Shayne what aren't you telling me?" she asked, clearly concerned

"Nothing, I've told you everything" with that he strode off in the direction of the Bullheads

Once he arrived at beacon he collected his kit bag and went to the Gym. Yang was already there working the bag as usual. He went and steadied it as she pummelled it.

"Yang, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah Shayne, what's up, what's with the hood?"

"While everyone was away I was attacked by a guy and a girl calling themselves the 'Genesis Twins', ever heard of them? And it's my winter jacket, my ears get cold easily"

"No, I can't say I have, why?"

"Well they had heard of me, they said they knew someone who wanted to see me"

"Do you know who?" Yang said stopping

"No but I have my theories"

"Lay it on me" she said walking to the locker room door

"I think it's the White Fang"

Yang's face dropped, she couldn't believe that so soon after learning that Blake had been part of them, now Shayne was somehow involved with them.

"Why do you think that?"

"They've been hounding me for years, trying to find a way to force me to join them" he said with a serious look in his eye, Yang went to change, Shayne waited for her to come out.

"Well, that's a thing, so what are you going to do?"

"I honestly don't know" he said as they walked to her dorm, "I mean I could go find those twins, but I wouldn't know where to start" he said as they went inside.

"I'll ask Blake, and see if she knows anything"

Shayne thanked her and headed to his dorm, on the way there he could hear Ozpin talking to someone, Shayne turned the corner before the stairs to his team's dorm, and there they were, talking to Ozpin;

"Aah, here comes one of our best students, Shayne Oceanstrider" Ozpin nodded to Shayne who nodded back.

"Hi Shayne, nice to meet you, I'm Vossler and this is my sister, Ashe" Shayne nodded to both of them and folded his arms.

Ashe gave him a look of anger, and her hand went to her bruised ribs and the small cut on her neck. Vossler simply rested his hands on the hilts of his cutlasses;

"They are starting here this year; we have no spare rooms for them…" Ozpin said knowing full well that SHDE's old dorm was empty, "I decided that as you have a large dorm, that they could stay with you and your team" Shayne motioned to Ozpin and he excused himself;

"Would you kindly wait here a moment" Shayne walked a few steps away, "Yes Shayne, what do you want to say?"

"Professor, these two attacked me over the Christmas break, I think they are connected to the White Fang"

"Now, Shayne that's preposterous, they aren't Faunus so how would they even come into contact with the White Fang" Shayne was gobsmacked that Ozpin didn't believe him, "now could you please go inform your team of this development" Ozpin walked back to the twins as Shayne stormed up the stairs.

He burst into the room;

Dundra fell off his stool wood fell on top of him, Eddi helped him up. Lina was concerned Shayne had begun pacing and talking to himself;

"Shayne are you okay?"

"No Lina, I'm not okay, not okay at all"

"Shayne, would you just stop and talk to us" Shayne sat down on the sofa his knees still bouncing.

"We have a problem"

"What problem?" Dundra said pulling a chair opposite Shayne

"We are getting roommates, the two from the café, the ones who attacked me, Ozpin is putting them in here with us" Shayne said getting increasingly agitated, "I think that they're connected to the White Fang" Lina paled and took hold of Shayne's arm .

"We have to tell Ozpin they can't stay here" Hanna said standing up

"Don't you think I tried, he didn't listen" Shayne said walking towards the window

A knock at the door echoed around the suddenly silent room, Eddi went and opened the door, Ozpin stepped in followed by Vossler and Ashe. Everyone of team SHDE watched them enter and put their bags down by the door, Lina eyed them suspiciously from the bed where she and Shayne were sat.

Ozpin introduced the twins and SHDE introduced themselves politely; Ozpin had to go deal with another matter that needed his attention, and the twins stood there awkwardly;

"So…" Vossler said looking at each person in turn; they clearly didn't trust them, "where do we sleep?"

Dundra, realising what was happening, stood up and took them to the two end beds;

"These are yours"

"Hang on, I just did a quick headcount, there's only five beds and seven of us how does that work?" Ashe said, sounding a lot like Weiss as she said it

"Well, Eddi and I are dating and so are Shayne and Lina, so we share our beds" Ashe nodded slowly

Hanna felt compelled to ask a question;

"So, do you guys have a team?" Shayne shot her a look of venom; she clearly meant it honestly but shrugged and shook her head anyway

"No, we don't, we are here as partners, there wasn't enough pairs for another team" Vossler said as he opened a case and took out a large knife, it was curved and serrated.

He noticed that Shayne was watching the blade closely, 'Let's test your reflexes, Grimm boy' he thought throwing the blade at Shayne.

Shayne ducked the blade, it left a small gash in his jacket, Eddi leapt to her feet pulling out two automatic pistols, Dundra unfurled his shield and Hanna readied a Burn Kunai. Lina had a fireball in hand and Shayne had his split pistol aimed at them, the twins had their weapons ready as well.

A knock at the door, broke the silence;

"Who's there?" Eddi called

"It's me Velvet, is Shayne there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Velvet, come on in" he said never breaking eye contact with Vossler

She opened the door but stopped when she saw the various weapons;

"Am I interrupting something?"

Shayne pulled up his pistol giving the twins the benefit of the doubt;

"No Velvet, you're not, just come in and close the door" Velvet crossed the room quickly going and standing next to Lina, who extinguished her flames.

Dundra, Eddi and Hanna didn't lower their weapons, neither did the twins. Shayne stood in the middle;

"This is my fault, now I want to fix it, but first we all need to lower our weapons" he said holding up both hands. His team obliged without question, the twins hesitated but sheathed them as well.

"Good, that wasn't so hard, you two, pull up a chair and start talking, I want answers" they walked over to the living area and sat down Dundra, Eddi and Hanna sat on the sofa, Shayne stood behind it while Lina went and helped Velvet with whatever she needed.

"Now, when you two tried to rob me, you said you knew someone who wanted to see me, who?"

"We were talking about Ozpin, obviously"

"You couldn't have, how did you know I went to Beacon, for all you know I could have been attending Signal, now tell me the truth or I'm going to stop asking nicely"

"You really want him to keep asking nicely" Dundra and Eddi nodded

"Ok, ok, we weren't talking about Ozpin, were talking about Roman Torchwick, he knew you could be of use to him, we were bounty hunters until you shut us down. Thanks for that, we weren't going to hurt you, we just wanted a chat"

"Clearly" Shayne said sarcastically, "is he connected to the White Fang?"

"How the fuck would we know, all we got told was, to pick you up and take you to him. That's all, we swear" Hanna stood up and took Ashe by the throat;

"Where did he say to take him?" Hanna asked through her teeth, "Answer me dammit" Dundra removed her hand from Ashe's throat;

"The docks at midnight, the day we were supposed to pick him up"

'He really thinks I'm going to go easily doesn't he' Shayne thought

"Hey, we want that rat bastard as much as you guys, he skipped out on our fee, we said we had you in custody but you escaped." Vossler said standing up.

"He wouldn't have had to pay you for that" Eddi said calmly

"And how would you know that?"

"I used to be a bounty hunter myself"

"So you don't know where he is?" Hanna said having calmed down

"No we don't, sorry"

Shayne sighed in relief;

"At least you guys aren't here to make me join the White Fang as I feared" the twins looked at each other confused;

"Don't worry, he's had a rough week" Dundra said

Lina came back to see Shayne more relaxed and went and stood by him;

"So what's going on now?"

"We found out that Roman Torchwick sent these two bounty hunters…"

"Ex-bounty hunters" Ashe corrected

'If she keeps that up I'm going to lose my shit' Hanna thought gritting her teeth

"Ex-bounty hunters, after me, they are not connected to the White Fang in any way, shape or form"

He turned to face them;

"I'm sorry I treated you the way I did, but you did sort of try to kill me just a minute ago"

"I was only testing your reflexes" he smiled innocently

"Well I'm glad you handled this the way you did" she said kissing him, Shayne had his hood up.

A few hours later after they had gotten to know each other Dundra and Eddi went and helped Ashe get to know the grounds, Shayne sat with Vossler and they talked about their pasts, Shayne still had his hood up, his head was cold.

"So Shayne, I see that you are a Faunus fancier, it's not my place to judge, but how does it feel dating a different species?" Vossler said taking a sip of the hot coffee.

"What…in the flying fuck, are you talking about?" Shayne said looking up from his drink

"You and Lina, I mean she's a Faunus and you're…"

"A Faunus too"

"No, you're clearly human, you haven't got any…" Shayne threw back his hood revealing his ears;

"Ears? The hood hides them well huh" He nodded;

"Shayne I'm sorry I should have thought…"

"About what? Why can't a human date a Faunus and not feel weird or be insulted about it? We are people too, I mean, yeah, I get why some Faunus try to hide that fact, but I've always been proud of my heritage, so has Lina"

Vossler looked down ashamed of his ignorance;

"Don't do that, I have it bad enough if a Faunus gets upset, you want to know why?

He nodded slowly as Dundra made his way over;

"I get calls and messages from Faunus day and night"

"He's right, he spends almost no time on himself, always trying to help them, I mean there are some problems that he just can't fix, but he still tries to at least make sure that they are ok"

"It's because from day one I've taken no shit from bullies, Lina and I have been through so much crap that we know what they're going through"

"Shayne I've had my fair amount of bullying at school, because I'm part Faunus too, we both are, me and Ashe. Our dad was a tourist and he fell in love with a barmaid and married her, as I said before, she was a Tiger Faunus, she had Ashe and I, and we showed almost no signs of being half Faunus, except our eyes." Shayne looked into his yellow eyes; they were of a cat alright.

Shayne and Vossler talked long into the night, long after the others had gone to bed, Shayne only went to bed when Lina came and made him go. He bid Vossler goodnight. The next morning Shayne caught sight of him trying to see Lina in the shower; he used his Grimm power to close the door.

Shayne smirked at Vossler and they went to breakfast once Lina had finished. Shayne took Yang aside;

"Yang, they weren't part of the White Fang, but they were after me for Roman Torchwick, can you do me a favour and see if you can find out why?"

"Of course, but you know you still owe me that first one, right"

"Yes of course, just tell me when you need a hand and I'll be there"

"I have something in mind but we need somewhere private and Lina can't know about it, otherwise she'd kill us both"

Shayne looked at her, trying to work out what she meant, he couldn't so he sat back down and ate his waffles.

The day passed slowly, it was around 5 o'clock when he got her message;

'Hey Shayne, time for you to repay that first favour, meet me at my dorm room'

He stepped out and headed there, still unsure what she could want from him.


	3. Chapter 3

He stepped out and headed there, still unsure what she could want from him. He arrived a few minutes later; Yang was already waiting for him;

"Good, you're here, follow me"

She took off at a brisk pace towards the gym, 'she doesn't need my help normally, something's up'.

They arrived after a few minutes, Yang hadn't anticipated how cold it would get, so she hadn't brought her big winter coat, Shayne removed his and draped it over her shoulders. She wrapped it tightly around herself thankful for its length. They arrived and Shayne took his coat back as she headed to the locker room door.

"Are you coming?" She said holding the door open, Shayne must have looked unsure as he stepped in, it was the girls locker room after all, "Don't worry there's no-one here to see"

"See what?"

"This" she threw herself at him, taking him to the floor with her, she kissed him roughly, 'well, now look what you've gotten yourself into' he thought.

He pushed Yang off and got up quickly;

"No, no, no, no, no! Yang we can't do this, I'm in love with Lina"

"Shayne, she'd never have to know!"

"But she would, we've shared our souls with each other, literally" he said pointing to his left eye, it was a sapphire blue instead of his normal hazel eyes

"I wouldn't even have to say anything, she would just know, I'm sorry you feel this way, I really am" his voice tailed off towards the end.

Yang started crying, Shayne being the good guy he was, went over to her and helped her to her feet.

He hugged her as she wiped her eyes, they shared a smile and she rested her head on his chest. She looked him in the eyes before he let go of her, Shayne was walking towards the door when Yang grabbed his arm;

"Shayne...you don't need to owe me any favours from now on..." Before she could break down again Shayne said;

"Yang, it's okay, we can still be friends" she smiled and Shayne walked away.

Shayne got back to his dorm as he stepped in; Lina shot him a look of venom and threw a lamp at him, her face turned soft and ended in tears. Dundra was confused;

"Does anyone have any idea what just happened?" He was met with blank looks and shrugs from everyone except Lina and Shayne who were caught in an embrace as she cried gently into his chest.

Vossler came in and stopped short;

"Hey, guys, anyone know what's up with the blonde chick down the hall? She's sat outside her dorm with her head between her knees" he walked over to the shared desk and put his backpack on it. Ashe and he were still playing catch up on the schoolwork, team SHDE were helping as best they could.

Hanna looked up suddenly at the mention of Yang;

"What did you say?"

"I said there's some girl sat in the hallway"

"Shayne, what did you do?! You went to do her a favour, you come back and she's found in tears!" Hanna stormed out

Lina looked at Shayne, since he had split the burden of his curse they had become able to read each other's thoughts, he told her exactly what happened silently. She thought no less of him for how he had handled it, though she thought he could go and deal with Yang again. Shayne ignored her mental suggestion.

Hanna came back sometime later looking flustered but not angry or upset. She went over to Shayne;

"I did the favour for you, she said she's okay but wished that you had been able to help" she said smiling, Shayne chuckled. Everyone else just looked at each other.

The next few days passed with Hanna and Yang spending more time together. Shayne was headed back to the dorm; he was just about to go in when he heard the muffled sounds. He instead went to the roof and lowered himself down the side of the building; he flung open the window, the cold wind rushed in. Hanna went to the window pulling it closed but not locking it.

When he flung it open again he swung in as well;

"tut, tut, Hanna, you should always lock the windows" Hanna fell off the bed and Yang covered herself with a blanket.

"Shayne you're a fucking asshole, you couldn't have just knocked could you" Hanna said as Shayne walked to the kitchenette to make coffee. He heard Hanna usher Yang into the bathroom and toss their clothes in after her.

He made three coffees and left two on the table while he went and sat on the sofa and waited. When Hanna and Yang came out, Yang went and sipped her coffee, whereas Hanna ignored it and stomped over to Shayne. She slapped him hard across the face;

"What the fuck was that!" Shayne nursed his jaw and put down his coffee

"You could have just sent a message and told us to stop as you wanted to come in"

"Now, one; that would have been less fun" he said winking at Yang, she blushed, "And two; It's not like you would have listened and stopped, now would you"

Hanna knew he was right, he was always right (except when arguing against Lina), instead of admitting that they wouldn't have, she went back to her bed sulking to clear up.

Yang sat down next to Shayne, she couldn't look him in the face, and he just looked at her, smiling;

"What?" Yang exclaimed

"Nothing, I just never took you as gay that's all."

Yang leaned in close to him;

"I'm bisexual actually" she said biting her lip slightly

Shayne's smile disappeared from his face; he stood up and walked away, Yang laughing hysterically.

A few minutes later, the twins walked in and could sense the awkwardness in the room. They were unsure on what happened but didn't ask. Ashe knew that Hanna and Yang were up to something when Yang left with Hanna at her heels. She went to where Shayne was sat tinkering with his gauntlet;

"Shayne, what's going on with them?"

"Nothing"

"You're lying to me, you know I'll find out one way or another, so you might as well tell me before someone else blabs about it" she said putting her hand on the gauntlet

"I'm not going to tell you so you can stop asking" Vossler came walking over as Ashe took a knife from her boot;

"Ashe, leave him alone, he said he's not going to tell you, so give it up already" she scowled and walked over to the bed and sat down to do her homework.

"Shayne, I was wondering, where did you get your tattoos?" Shayne hadn't told him the entire truth about his powers.

Before he could answer Lina came crashing through the door, followed by Nora holding a penguin.

"Um, does everyone else see the penguin?" Ashe asked, Shayne and Vossler nodded

"Nora took him from the zoo; I'm trying to get her to take it back"

"NO, I wanna keep it!" Nora yelled as Lina closed the door

"Nora, you need to take it back, it doesn't belong here" Shayne said calmly while slowly making his way to her

Dundra stepped through the door and saw the penguin;

"HOLY SHIT!" he said falling over backward as Nora ran through him and tore down the hall.

Shayne helped him up;

"What the fuck was that about" Dundra said as Lina went with Ashe to find Nora

"I have no idea, all we know is that Lina dragged Nora in here after she refused to take the penguin back" Vossler said

"Well I'm staying out of it, I hate birds, almost as much as I hate Grimm" Shayne looked at Dundra concerned, "Speaking of which, Shayne, I need to have a word with you"

* * *

Shayne and Dundra went to the roof while Vossler went to see if the girls could use a hand;

"Shayne… I've been thinking about the curse that we share, I have been thinking of the past and it has rekindled my anger for Grimm, my rage calms when I'm around you as the Grimm settles, other times it burns my skin and whispers things to me" Shayne looked at him and saw the truth in his eyes,

"Shayne I want this thing out of me, I can't take much more of this" he said dropping to his knees, dangerously close to the edge of the building

Shayne crouched down next to him;

"Dundra this won't be easy or painless you know" Dundra nodded slowly, "There is also the large possibility that the removal will kill you, the Grimm anchors to the heart and soul of the host…"

Dundra looked up at him,

"Trying to separate it from you is dangerous and is not a decision to be made lightly, I'm the only one who can do it" Dundra's head dropped and Eddi came through the door that led to the dorms.

"Shayne, what's going on?"

"Eddi, Dundra can't handle the Grimm, he wants it removed from his soul" Dundra rocked slightly in silence;

Dundra could hear voices as Eddi and Shayne talked about how to help him;

_'They're conspiring against you…she is cheating on you with him…you know it to be true…do it…do it now…kill him'_

He stood, pure rage making him see red as he grabbed hold of Shayne and jumped off the edge. They fell for some time as the building was right up against the cliff, Shayne wrestled with Dundra until they landed in a small lake. They coughed up water as they clawed their way onto shore, before Shayne could regain his senses, Dundra had kicked him in the chest, and he heard ribs snap as he rolled away from Dundra to safety. Shayne stood slowly, clutching his chest;

"Dundra…stop, it's me, Shayne, your friend…you've got to fight it….." Dundra punched him in the face; Shayne didn't want to fight him but he knew he'd have to.

Shayne was lifted from the floor as Dundra held him aloft, Shayne had grabbed a handful of sand before being hauled from the ground. He threw it into Dundra's eyes and Shayne dropped to the floor, he staggered into the forest as fast as he could, he checked his chest, one of the ribs was pushing against his lung, making him short of breath. He could hear something nearby, he continued towards the source of the noise, whatever it was, it had to be easier to fight than Dundra. He almost fell over Frank and Velvet, as they were laid down in the soft grass;

"Shayne, what's going on?!" Frank asked getting to his feet

Shayne looked back the way he came and could see that Dundra wasn't far behind; Shayne pushed past Frank before collapsing onto the ground, Velvet went to check him;

"Frank he's hurt, badly…his fifth, sixth…and seventh ribs are broken and the sixth is digging into his lung" she said after taking a moment to examine him

Dundra stormed into the clearing, Frank saw the rage in his eyes, and stood between them;

"Dundra, calm down and talk to me"

Dundra shouted over Frank at the near unconscious Shayne;

"You think you can take her for yourself! I'll kill you, you motherfucker!" Dundra shoved Frank aside and strode over to Shayne, Velvet ran to Frank.

Dundra was about to stomp on Shayne's skull when Lance slammed into him and sent him sliding across the damp grass. Lina rushed to Shayne's side, she and Eddi dragged him aside, letting Velvet try to help him. She tore open his shirt and using his knife, cut open his chest to access his ribs; she put her hand in and pulled the broken rib out of his lung, while feeding him her aura to seal the wound. She called for Lance to help her set his ribs properly before healing his chest. Frank and Eddi kept Dundra at bay for as long as they could until he finally got the better of them, sending Frank flying into a tree, and holding Eddi by the throat choking her.

_Shayne knew he was unconscious, he was in the forest back on Managerie, and 'He' was there with Nemea._

_'Shayne you know that you cannot help your friend' Shayne nodded, he couldn't speak;_

_'I…will consume him…he will….become mine….ahahahahahah!' Shayne glared at 'Him' and he faded away_

_'Shayne, you need to wake up, your friends need you, I know you want to sleep, but if you sleep now you will never wake' Nemea roared and Shayne's vision went dark._

He sat up suddenly, gasping for air, his aura pulsing strongly, he leapt to his feet and saw that Eddi was being choked; he sprinted across the distance colliding with Dundra and running him into a tree. Shayne bound him there using Grimm and went to check Eddi;

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, Shayne I'm fine" she said struggling for air, Lance came and took her to the side as Shayne released Dundra.

Dundra stormed towards Shayne, who stood there ready. Dundra was four steps from him when he collapsed, Shayne went to him and put his hand on his back, he drew the Grimm from Dundra and it made its way up his arm until it settled and became part of Shayne's tattoos. Shayne sat down next to him, and waited. 'well that proved you wrong Nemea, didn't it' he thought. Dundra woke up a few minutes later; he rolled over and opened his eyes to see people above him;

"What happened? The last thing I remember, is standing on the roof, then it all went red and I couldn't hear properly" he saw Shayne had another scar on his chest

"Dundra you asked me to take back the Grimm from you, then you collapsed and I talked to Eddi, you took hold of me and dragged me off the edge of the building"

"I could hear voices; they told me that you were sleeping with her, they told me to kill you"

"They were lies, Dundra; the Grimm had taken hold over you and was making you do its bidding, this was the only way I could help you" Shayne stood up and held out his hand, Dundra took it reluctantly and they went back to the dorm.

Shayne didn't sleep that night, neither did Dundra. Shayne was trying to understand how deep Dundra's hate for Grimm was by meditating with him while holding an aura link that allowed two auras to meet, it also allowed for Shayne to delve into Dundra's mind and see first-hand what caused his hatred.


	4. Chapter 4

Shayne was in Dundra's subconscious, he followed the pattern of memories back to the incident with his sisters, though there was something before that, something that added fuel to his hatred.

_Dundra was about 6 or 7, he and his mother were coming back from the market taking the shortcut through the forest, Dundra was scared, so scared he never let go of her hand. As they were nearing the edge of the forest, a roar echoed from behind them. Dundra's mother turned, a look of pure terror on her face, the Ursa charged and she told Dundra to run, he couldn't move out of fear, he watched his mother be slaughtered by the bear, he watched the life drain from her eyes. As he turned to run, the Ursa looked up and chased after him, he ran as fast as he could, screaming at the top of his lungs. His dad heard him and came running, along with a couple of farm hands, they were all wielding axes. The Ursa killed both the farm hands before Dundra's father finally felled it with a hard chop to the top of its skull. His dad asked where his mother was, quietly at first, but after repeating himself several times he was bellowing it at the top of his lungs. Dundra cried softly and pointed in the direction of the forest._

_He was sent back to make sure his younger sisters were okay, they were still sleeping, they were only babies after all. He waited for his father to return before going to do his chores, he didn't know why he was doing them, he just wanted to. Dundra's father buried his mother behind the house; he didn't let Dundra see her. After that time, Dundra's father lost heart in keeping the farm running, over time Dundra took over, his dad also seemed to be aging faster, since she had died. Eight years later, he lost his younger sister, Sara, to another Ursa, in the same forest; it was this that eventually drove her twin to suicide, a year later, and his dad a few months after her._

_ Dundra was fourteen and had no family, he had the land and everything on it, but he didn't want to keep on working it. He decided then and there, on the anniversary of his mother's death, that he would slay every Grimm he came into contact with and kill it without mercy or surrender when he was tired or injured._

Shayne released the bond between them and waited for Dundra to regain consciousness, when he opened his eyes, Shayne held in his hand a simple steel blade. He offered it to Dundra, who took it gingerly;

"Dundra, I know your hatred for Grimm is buried deep in you, I know why you hate the Grimm. If you choose to kill me, know that I understand and I do not judge you for it. The others won't, it is no longer just about you anymore, think of Eddi and Hanna. Just if you do decide to do it, do it quickly" Shayne knelt there keeping his eyes fixed on Dundra's, he felt the knife being put to his throat, Shayne closed his eyes and waited.

Dundra's hands were shaking, he knew that Shayne was possessed by a Grimm, but he couldn't bring himself to kill his friend over it. He threw the blade away, it stuck in the wall. He bowed his head and Shayne opened his eyes.

"Dundra, I trust you more than ever now, if you ever want someone to talk to about this, I'll make time for you"

Suddenly a dark shape crashed through the window. Shayne and Dundra jumped to their feet, the others woke at the sudden noise, Eddi, Hanna and Lina sat up in bed while Vossler and Ashe, leapt out of bed readying their weapons. Dundra went to the dark shape and pulled its hood down. Before Dundra could do anything else, the shape leapt at Shayne, a blade in hand.

Shayne caught the arm of his attacker and flipped him through the table. The shape was dazed as Shayne rooted through his pockets, but had enough of his senses to give him the note. Shayne took it and stepped away, Dundra turned on the light so Shayne could see it better, forgetting that he was a Faunus.

All the note contained was the symbol of the White Fang and a small amount of text at the bottom that read;

'It begins'

Shayne looked up and saw that the shape had vanished, presumably out the window. He showed the note to his roommates and answered a knock at the door.

"Shayne, we heard a lot of crashing, is everything alright?" Blake asked; the entire of team RWBY were standing at the door in their pyjamas.

"Yeah everything is fine, but Blake I need to show you something" he went and retrieved the note from Hanna, "someone or something came crashing through the window, it attacked me and after I subdued it, it handed me this" he gave her the note.

She looked at it and her face hardened;

"Shayne, this isn't good, but why are they targeting you, you were never part of them"

"They've been trying to recruit me for years, I always lost them among the trees of a forest or killed them" he said, Lina took his hand, "The most notable attempt caused me to lose Lina, it made me determined to never help them, no matter what"

"Shayne, you know you can't ignore this"

"I know, but what else can I do at the moment, until I know exactly what they want, we can't do anything"

"I'll talk to my old contacts and see if they know anything" Yang said

"And I'll get in touch with my old handler, maybe he'll know something" Hanna added

"That's a start at least, but leave it until the morning, we all need some rest now, see you tomorrow girls" Dundra said closing the door.

Shayne wandered over to the bed he shared with Lina and sat down. Hanna and the twins returned to their beds, yawning slightly.

* * *

The next morning there was the usual mob of people waiting to use the bathroom, Shayne got around this by going to the old room while no-one was paying attention and showering there before going back. Strangely when he got there the door was unlocked, he opened the door slowly, and there was blood all over the floor and walls. He ran back to his dorm and got the others. Shayne grabbed his Scroll before taking them to the old dorm. He sent a message directly to Ozpin

'SHDE's old dorm…Now, emergency' they arrived moments before Goodwitch and Ozpin

"Who found this first?" Goodwitch asked the group of students;

"I did, Professor, I was coming down to use the bathroom and the door was unlocked, I opened it to find this" Shayne said, stepping forward.

Hanna peeked through the gap between the doorframes, she saw a body of a Faunus, lying in a pool of blood, and she turned her head before she vomited. Shayne pushed past Ozpin and investigated the scene as Ozpin sent Goodwitch to get the police.

The Faunus was one he had helped in the past; she was being bullied by other girls for a reason that escaped him at the time. She had suffered great pain, her chest had been ripped open and her organs were on the floor, by the look of terror and pain on her face it had been done before her throat had been slit. He didn't touch anything afraid that the police would pin it on him. He went and examined the rest of the room, he noticed something about the blood on the ground, and he went back to the door;

"Does anyone know where I can get a step ladder?"

The group looked at him, it was such an odd request considering the circumstances, Dundra went and got the groundskeepers step ladder that they used for tending the hanging baskets, Shayne put its feet in plastic bags before setting it up. As he climbed it his suspicions had been true, the blood did show a pattern, it was the White Fang symbol.

Shayne climbed off the ladder as the police arrived, they entered the room and took a quick look around and started questioning Shayne's team;

"Don't bother asking them, they don't know anything, you want to be talking to me" he said sitting on the bottom step, the police turned to face him;

"And what makes you think that we won't deal with you in a moment"

"Because I'm a Faunus and the police don't trust Faunus as a whole"

"Shayne, that's enough, just tell them what you know" Ozpin said while trying to get the gathering crowd to disperse

"Are you ready with your pens boys?"

They looked at him, wondering if they could arrest him for something;

"The victim, is over by the east wall, her chest and belly have been cut in a single motion, and her organs removed, she also has a severed trachea and main artery, the blood pattern on the floor may seem random, but if you will kindly climb this handy step ladder, you will see that the blood has been painted to be the symbol of the White Fang" the police were trying to keep up as best they could, one officer climbed the ladder and said;

"He's right, by god; it's the White Fang alright…"

"Don't bother doing a background check against any of them, they have no link to the White Fang" he caught Blake's eye as he said this, "I, however, do, I have been approached by them several times over the past couple of years. Dundra hand me that note" Shayne went over to Dundra and took the piece of tattered paper from him, "Last night, my team had an unexpected visitor come crashing through our window, he gave me this" he handed it to the police who put it in an evidence bag and sealed it.

"And no, I don't mind coming down to the station to answer some questions" the police were stunned, they escorted Shayne back to his dorm and waited for him to dress before taking him to the police station.

Shayne spent the next four hours in an interrogation room, he could leave at any point he liked as he had been checked and was declared innocent. Unfortunately they still had no leads, the police, sensing they had found an extremely useful asset in Shayne, told him that if he came across any new evidence or anything relevant to the case, he should call them.

He said his goodbyes and made his way back to beacon, when he arrived the police tape was still intact but the door was open, Ozpin was inside.

"You do realise that this is a crime scene?" Ozpin turned at his voice

"Aah Shayne, how did it go?

"They're going to keep me in the loop about how the investigation is going"

"Good, come in and close the door please"

Shayne nodded and did as he was asked;

"Now, tell me what you really think"

"What I think is that someone really doesn't want Faunus at Beacon, I've noticed that a lot of Faunus have made plans to go home, you need to stop them, if we are ever going to catch who did this."

"Shayne, I respect your judgement but keeping them here would put them at risk…"

"And letting them go where they can't be protected puts them at even greater risk, if this is indeed the White Fang"

"I understand where you're coming from but it's not my decision to make, it's their choice if they leave, I can ask them to reconsider and set up a system to increase campus security but I can't stop them from going all together"

Shayne stared out the window.

Ozpin sighed and walked towards the door;

"For all Faunus' sake, I pray your right Shayne" he said ducking under the police tape;

_'So do I professor, so do I'_, Shayne thought, taking one last look around the room before returning to his dorm.

The day passed, with almost every Faunus at Beacon coming to see Shayne about the incident earlier. He told them all the same;

"The police are investigating, the best thing you can do is not be out late alone, trust your team, and they will have your back and keep you safe"

That evening, Blake, Lina, Shayne and Velvet were sat in the library, keeping an eye on the few Faunus that did decide to go alone to the library.

"Shayne, what's got your focus?" Lina asked quietly

"I'm trying to work out why the White Fang would attack a Faunus, the only thing that I can come up with is that they are trying to frame the racists here at Beacon for it, but making it look like the racists were trying to frame them, it makes no sense"

"Unless, it's a ruse to draw us out, Shayne" Blake said looking up from her book.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, what if they want me and you for something they have planned, and the best way to draw us in is this"

"That still makes no sense, but it's worth a shot, we'll go into the main courtyard at midnight and wait for an hour, and if no-one shows up, then something else is going on"

"Velvet and I will watch from a hiding spot as backup in case something does happen"

"If something happens, you go get the rest of my team and Ozpin, do you understand? No heroics, I won't lose you again" Shayne stood up and whistled loudly getting everyone's attention;

"Alright, the library is shutting for the night, time to go folks"

They took the time to take the lone Faunus' back to their dorms before reconvening at the main courtyard at five to midnight.

"Okay, you two hide, Blake and I will separate to try and draw them in"

They waited almost half an hour before anything happened, the White Fang dropped silently from gliders and surrounded Blake and Shayne, Lina silently sent a message to his team and Ozpin as he had asked.

"So, we meet again shayne…"


	5. Chapter 5

"So, we meet again Shayne, and it's good to see you too, Blake" he said as he came to a halt.

"Adam!" Blake exclaimed; Shayne just glared at him.

"What do you want?" Shayne said through his clenched jaws

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I want, especially after last time"

Shayne shifted his weight at the memory, they had fought and Shayne had taken a bullet to his midsection.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys to go fuck yourselves, I'm not joining you"

"We got the message; now we just want you out of the way. That goal can be achieved in a couple of ways, you join, thus no longer making you a threat, or you die. It's simple" Blake was staring at Adam trying to follow what he was saying.

"Blake, I can see you are confused so I'll clear things up. Your boyfriend here is special and the White Fang had great plans for him until recently..." no-one cared to correct him.

Dundra, Eddi and Hanna came to Shayne's side,

"Aaah, the gangs all here, now I don't have to worry about killing the rest of you later"

"Adam, I was told something a long time ago, by a very old friend, would you like to know what that was."

Adam smiled grimly;

"Do tell"

"I was told that Death is a blessing, it should only be bestowed on those who deserve it. I tell you this as I make a point of not killing people, as you may remember, but today I make an exception"

Shayne drew his blade, the simple Katana, and held it ready.

"You wish to fight me; after last time do you really think that's a good idea?"

"No, but I'm going to anyway" Shayne sprung, the Grimm projecting him towards Adam.

They're blades clashed as the rest of Team SHDE dealt with the White Fang, the shots echoed around the courtyard. Lights turned on in windows and they were flung open. Bullets pinged of the stonework of the buildings, some shattered glass.

Shayne had become more skilled since their last encounter, he parried and countered Adam's lightning fast attacks, Adam started to take the back foot as Shayne increased the ferocity of his assault. Shayne disarmed Adam and he beat a hasty retreat.

"The longer you resist, the more students will die Shayne, even your precious Blake, and your sister Lina" Shayne knew he had made a mistake but didn't let Adam see it.

Adam gathered what was left of his forces and left as quickly as they had appeared. Once he was sure they were gone, Shayne dropped to his knees, he could hardly breathe. Lina and Velvet came running from the bushes and helped him back to his dorm. Shayne had to make a decision.

* * *

He woke several hours later, Ozpin was stood over him.

"Shayne, I was told what happened last night, I think you know what needs to be done" Shayne nodded sedately, he looked disgraced, "Shayne, know this, even though the decision has already been made, it does not mean you shouldn't think about it. Whatever you do, know your grandfather is proud of you" Shayne smiled softly at his mention.

"Thank you professor, I need to go to the forest, can you arrange a pickup for me if I need it when I have made my decision"

"Of course, I'll see to it immediately"

Shayne got dressed and made his way to the cliffs, 'How many times have I been in this position recently' he thought as he dropped into the valley in which the forest resided. He made his way to the clearing, with his thoughts weighing heavily on his heart.

He called Nemea to him and communed with him;

"Nemea, you know what I seek an answer for, what advice can you give me"

_'Shayne there is not much I can say, you have already made your decision and seem content with it'_

"I'm content because I have to be, if I don't do this then more students will die. I don't need that kind of blood on my hands"

_'Shayne heed my words well, the things you do in life echo in eternity, by sacrificing either your life or your principles, you change the course of your destiny not only here but after you die'_

"I am not dying for anything that I have no choice over"

Shayne was brought out his trance by his Scroll going off;

'Shayne, Adam is back, he wants to talk to you'

Shayne got to his feet and climbed onto Nemea, he rode him back to the school to see Adam stood in front of Ozpin and Blake. He hopped off and went and stood between them;

"Ready to go, my bosses don't like to be kept waiting" Adam said calmly

Shayne nodded and followed him to the waiting Bullhead, not wanting to start yet another fight. Once he stepped aboard, Shayne was cuffed and blindfolded. They flew for about ten minutes, Shayne made note of the direction they were going, they were heading east, he could tell by the smell of the streets below. They landed and he was pushed out before being ushered inside. He was lead to a circle of light.

"Shayne Oceanstrider, do you know who I am?"

"You're Roman Torchwick, the wanted criminal, and according to certain sources, you're an asshole" Shayne said showing no emotion, Roman barrelled forward and was about to strike him when a voice came from the shadows;

"Roman leave him be, come forward Shayne" he obligingly stepped forward, golden eyes judging him,

"Now, I assume you know why you were brought here" a woman's voice said smoothly.

"I'll never join the White Fang you know? Not after all they have done to me"

The woman stepped into the circle; she had dark hair and wore a short red dress;

"I would never expect you to, but it would have made our job easier if you had. No matter, you are here because only you can do what we need"

"And what is that exactly?"

"We want you to channel your Grimm into a vessel so it can be controlled, freeing you from it forever"

Shayne was thoughtful for a moment;

"I'm afraid you're too late, I have split the Grimm, even if I did as you said, you wouldn't have it all" he said with a smile.

Her face hardened as she conjured a fireball, trying to judge if he was lying, he was emotionless and cold. She extinguished it and strode towards him, she drew level with him. Shayne stared her down, daring her to call him a liar, no such accusation came.

"Very well, seeing as we have no use for you, you will be killed" she strode away and armed Faunus surrounded Shayne.

"I know as well as you do that I'm too valuable to die" he turned the Faunus that now enclosed him.

"Why do you do this, all you are doing is reinforcing the humans suspicions about the Faunus" he saw some weapons being lowered as they began to doubt if this was really the best way, "Come on then, you heard her. Kill me!" he shouted, trying to shake their convictions even further.

The Faunus hesitated, and Shayne waited;

"If none of you are going to kill me, I'll be taking my leave" Shayne went to go to the exit but as he heard the first blade sing through the air, he held up his bonds. The blade cleaved right through them and Shayne drew his blade.

He dispatched anyone who stood in his way to the door;

"Shayne, you know this means that people will die because of you"

Shayne rested his hand on the door knob;

"We'll see" he stepped out and strode away from the door, pulling up his hood as he went.

* * *

Sometime later he reached Beacon; Ozpin was waiting for him in the courtyard.

"So, you're not dead. I suppose this means I'll have to tighten security?"

Shayne nodded, as he went to pass Ozpin, he held up his cane, stopping Shayne.

"What did they want?"

"They wanted to control my Grimm"

"And?"

"I told them it had been split, I didn't say with whom"

"And they didn't try to kill you?"

"Oh no, they tried, I'm just very persuasive"

"Hmm, I see. Goodnight Shayne" Ozpin let him pass and looked out over Vale.

'I hope he knows what he's doing' Ozpin thought taking another sip of coffee as Shayne walked to his dorm.

* * *

Several hours later, Shayne and Blake stood atop the dorms. They stared out over the campus, watching, waiting. They observed several couples moving around, teammates or Faunus using the buddy system. Ozpin had implemented this in an attempt to stop any murders. Shayne's Scroll went off, it was Ozpin.

The buddy system had failed.

Blake and Shayne made their way to the location, he told her to wait around the corner in case it was anything like the last one. Blake went and talked to the girl who had found the body, she was covered in blood.

Shayne knelt down by the body; the throat had been cut and had bled out slowly onto the ground. Shayne stood up and got a feel for the crime scene, he determined that the assailant had been waiting in the shadows for someone to use the pathway. He walked towards the waiting police.

"Same story as before, throat slit after death, White Fang symbol painted in blood" he said as he ducked under the tape, "Only difference is that she isn't Faunus, this isn't good as it means that anyone could be next"

Shayne walked back to Blake.

"So, you were walking down the pavement when you tripped, you turned on your Scroll to light up the area and saw the body, you ran, when you checked your clothes you were covered in blood. Are you sure you're telling me everything?"

The girl nodded as Blake stood up and walked to Shayne;

"She's innocent, you can tell by the fear emanating from her"

"I am not going to let this continue, I have to go back to them..."

Before Shayne could finish a student came running towards them, he slowed to a stop, panting but talking all the same;

"White Fang...want you in Vale..."

"Slow down, catch your breath and try that again" Shayne said sitting him down

He caught his breath and tried again;

"The White Fang have been going around town telling people to get you into town; they want to talk to you"

"Blake, go tell our teams to be ready, if this gets nasty, and I know it will, I want some support, I'm going to see what they want"

They divided and Shayne reached the town in minutes.

He was walking the streets, walking in the middle of the road. There was no-one around, probably out of fear of the White Fang. He reached a crossroad and they showed themselves.

Hundreds of members, every last one of them armed and angry, Adam stepped forward;

"I'm glad you made it, I was getting worried" he said with sarcasm resounding around the empty streets.

"Adam, I only came to stop the murders, now what do you want"

"We told you what we wanted earlier, we told you that you needed to die, so now, we're going to kill you" Adam brought his blade up,

"Before you do, may I make one last call?"

"I'm feeling generous so go ahead" Adam said fingering the handle of his blade.

Shayne took out his Scroll and called Lina;

'Shayne, where are you? Blake came and told us to be ready, ready for what?'

"For this"

He dropped to his knees and a large portal appeared behind him and the rest of team SHDE along with RWBY, FLLN and the twins materialised behind him.

He hung up as Adam's face screwed up in anger,

"Open fire!" He yelled and the front lines of the White Fang raised their guns.

Shayne stood and created a wall of Grimm to absorb the bullets.

"Vossler, you and Ashe take RWBY and flank them, no death just wounds" he said as Lina helped him maintain the barrier,

"Dundra, Lance and Frank, you just be ready to provide cover when I drop this, the rest of you keep the White Fang off of me, I'm going for Adam" his face hardening. They nodded and made ready, with the Genesis twins disappearing into an alley followed by RWBY.

Shayne dropped the Grimm wall, the bullets dropping to the ground, Lina jumped behind the shield wall as Eddi popped up giving them cover fire as they advanced. As they got closer and the White Fang charged, the shield wall broke and battle ensued. The others that went to flank arrived just in time and caused them to panic.

Any that reached Shayne skidded to a halt, regarding the dark tendrils that poured off his shoulders. They parted as he moved towards Adam. Lina was subduing those that watched him pass.

As Shayne drew closer to Adam, Lina felt the Grimm start to burn in her. As she watched Shayne closer, the darkness enveloped him, she was horrified at what he had become, she had to stop this, she just didn't know how. Shayne drew his Katanas and rage filled his heart.

Shayne was operating out of anger at the fallen; his parents, his grandparents, his uncle and the girls who had been murdered. He would avenge them all, he would kill those responsible.

Adam struck first, his red blade flashing towards Shayne's torso. Time seemed to slow down, he watched the blade being fired from its sheathe, it arced through the air and Shayne leaned to the side as it made its way lazily past him. Shayne thrust his blade toward Adam forcing him to dance away. Time returned to normal as Shayne turned to face him. Adam had to rethink his strategy, Shayne had become too fast, so he reverted to pure tenacity, quickly closing the gap between them and ferociously attacking Shayne. Shayne had Grimm pouring off his skin, soaking into the atmosphere.

As the battle wore on Shayne became increasingly aware that he was becoming less in control of his actions, acting off instinct and… something else. He came to the sudden realisation that 'He' had taken over despite Shayne's cautiousness. Shayne was about to finish Adam when he regained control, his senses were dulled, he couldn't hear properly and his vision blurred, he staggered into a wall. He regained his composure only to have a blade pierce his shoulder.

"No!" Lina cried launching fireballs at Adam as she sprinted over to Shayne.

Adam dodged back, Dundra and Hanna did their best to hold him off but he was too fast for them. Lina tried healing Shayne's shoulder but it was no use, the Grimm was coursing through his blood, preventing his Aura from activating.

Shayne forced himself off the wall as Adam advanced on him again to finish the job. Lina tried blocking his advance several times, before being knocked to the ground by a well-placed kick. Adam stood over her smiling evilly;

"You have the same choice as he had, join us or die as he will" Lina spat at him, "Very well, death it is"

Adam raised his blade to strike her down. As he thrust his arm down Shayne caught the blade in his fist, wrenching it from Adams grasp. Shayne stepped in between them, the Grimm had stopped flowing out of him, and he was back to normal. He held his tooth knife in his hand and backed Adam to a wall.

"How dare you touch her, after all you've done? You want to take the last thing keeping me here; I say, no more, you…will…die" he plunged the knife into Adams gut and twisted, Adam spat blood as Shayne pulled it out.

The White Fang stopped fighting at Adam's scream and turned to their leader, now bleeding out onto the pavement. Shayne strode away, picking up Lina on his way past and went back to beacon.

'Now, to deal with Roman and Cinder' he thought as the others joined him and the White Fang took their wounded and their fallen leader away.


	6. Chapter 6

The teams reconvened back at Beacon. Teams RWBY and FLLN headed back to their dorms, while Shayne and the rest of SHDE went to Ozpin's office.

Shayne went inside alone.

"Professor, the threat to the students has been dealt with; I am making every effort to track down the others in regards to what they planned on doing with my Grimm"

"Good to hear" Shayne turned on his heels, "Before you go Shayne, I have something for you" Ozpin produced a box from behind his desk.

Shayne peered inside as it was placed on the table;

"Professor, what is this?"

"This is what your Uncle and Grandfather left for you in their wills, you'd best take it back to your dorm before going through it" Shayne nodded and picked up the large box.

Dundra helped Shayne carry the box back to the dorm; the twins were back so they weren't surprised that the door was unlocked. Eddi went and made coffee as Hanna went to talk to Ashe about some homework.

"I don't get it Dundra, how do they carry on normally after what happened not an hour ago?"

"Hanna is used to this kind of thing and Ed's an ex-bounty hunter like the twins, so this is second nature for them. Don't worry bud, I'm in the same boat as you, my adrenaline is still pumping" Dundra said, clapping Shayne on the shoulder.

Shayne turned his attention to the large box on the coffee table; it was mostly personal effects of his Uncle, clothes and other fabric wares that his Grandmother had made (Shayne's Grandfather never have got rid of them), some photos of the family and some envelopes. There were some smaller boxes inside with labels on, just names, nothing descriptive; one read Lina, in his Uncles definite, swirling, handwriting. Shayne raised an eyebrow at this, but turned his attention to the envelopes.

The first one was from his grandfather;

_'Shayne, by reading this I know that I have passed, so I'll make this brief. When your father brought home your mother she made an impression on us as a family that would never fade, so when they both declared that they were joining up to fight in the war, your grandmother pleaded for them to reconsider, they didn't heed her words and went anyway. _

_For the longest time after they didn't return once the war was over, we both grieved at their loss, you were just a baby at the time. When you were two, we received a letter addressed to you; we recognised the handwriting, so we never showed it to you. Especially after the letter we had received days earlier, it was from your mother. It told of how your father had died and she had been imprisoned in Mistral._

_I tell you this now as you deserve to know the truth, your mother still lives and wants to see you, the letter she sent you is among the items before you, it is up to you what you do, just know, that whatever you choose to do, that your father would have been proud.'_

Shayne was tearing up, he picked up the second letter and went to the window, 'After all this time, do I really want to know what my mother has to say?' Shayne thought looking out over Vale.

Lina walked in and saw that Shayne was upset by something and went over to him;

"Shayne, whatever it is that's bothering you, you know that you can tell us" 'if not them, then me definitely'

Shayne's head dropped and he leant against the windowsill.

"In the large box on the table, is a smaller box with your name on it" Lina blinked in surprise, "It's part of the Wills of my Grandfather and Uncle"

Lina went over and took out her box, she sat down on the bed near to Shayne, Hanna and Ashe peered over her shoulders to see what was inside. It was a Burn Dust crystal, carved perfectly into a rosebud and set into a gold pendant. Lina's hands covered her mouth at its beauty, as did Hanna's and Ashe's.

"Shayne, it's beautiful but I don't understand"

"Well my grandfather did always consider you family, and the fact that you looked like my grandmother to him only reinforced his fondness of you"

"I wish I'd met him, it looks like it'd be worth a fortune" Ashe said enviously

"Now if you'll all excuse me, I wish to read this in private" Shayne said holding up the letter and walking out.

* * *

He walked for a long time lost in his thoughts; he decided to head into Vale and find a quiet corner of a café to read it.

He ordered a coffee and used his knife to open the letter;

_'Shayne, I know that your Uncle and Grandparents will keep this from you until they die, by reading this they must be dead, so I'll be quick to save you even more grief. Undoubtedly they will have told you about your parents and how they went to fight in the war, well only your father died._

_You are reading this correctly, your mother lives on and it is this reason that I'm writing to you now. Shayne I am alive.'_ Shayne couldn't believe it, his mother was alive, he had no idea where she was or if that was still the case, but he kept reading nonetheless.

_'After your father died in my arms, I couldn't go back to Managerie, I didn't want to face your grandparents, not out of fear or shame; I just didn't want to let them see me cry. So instead I went to Mistral, where I started a store selling various herbal medicines, just between you and me not all of them were purely medicinal, anyway I'm getting off topic._

_The address is overleaf, if you don't want to see me after so long I'll understand but the least you could do is write to me and let me know that you're okay.'_

Shayne was dumbstruck, he looked up the address on his Scroll, and sure enough there was an herbal remedy store at that address. He finished his drink and paid before heading back to Beacon, the letter still buzzing around his thoughts.

* * *

He stepped into his dorm to a very different scene to the one he had left; Lina and Hanna were at each other's throats shouting at the top of their lungs, Dundra was trying to calm the situation, Ashe and Vossler watched from across the room. Lina, Hanna and Dundra paid him no attention as he crossed the room.

"What's going on?" Shayne asked Vossler

"All I asked was if Lina and you being together made Hanna feel left out, with Dundra being with Eddi and all"

"Well that wasn't well thought out, although I suppose you were never told" Eddi said wandering over to the more sensible conversation

"Told what?" Vossler asked

"That this had already been laid to rest, or so we'd thought. Hanna had a thing for Shayne at the start of the year, things happened and her adoration for him grew. So when Lina came back into his life, he fell back in love with her, leaving Hanna in the lurch about the whole thing"

"That would probably have been handy information to have earlier"

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot about it, we'd put it behind us and didn't think about you two"

"Personally, I don't really care, Ashe brought it up" she punched her brother on the arm

"Well I'd better go diffuse the situation before it escalates" as he said the words Hanna tackled Lina to the ground

"Too late now" Ashe said sipping her drink

Shayne stood up and hauled Hanna off of Lina, Dundra took hold of her arms as Lina got to her feet.

"Now, could we all calm down and talk like adults please" Shayne said loudly

"Shayne, I thought I was okay with this but I'm not. I'm not comfortable with her staying here all the time"

"Hanna, you're with Yang now, this really shouldn't matter anymore"

"I know but I have this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something is wrong, I just don't know what"

"Hanna you just need to cool off, why don't you take a walk" she nodded not taking her eyes off Lina.

When she left, Shayne looked at Lina, Hanna had done a number on her, he lip was cut in a couple of places and her left eye, her hazel one, was bruised. Shayne watched as her Aura cleared the minor injuries up, leaving her as she had always been, unblemished and beautiful.

"Shayne, I think she has a point, it hasn't felt right since the start of term and I don't know why"

"I haven't felt anything, have you Dundra" he shook his head, "What about you Eddi"

"No I haven't felt anything"

"Maybe Hanna and I should spend some more time getting to know one another"

"That sounds like a good idea; you should be able to catch up with her if you leave now"

She sprinted out the door to catch up with Hanna. They spent the entire afternoon with each other, Shayne caught Lina's thoughts through their mental link, and they had a lot in common.

They got back late, smiling and laughing as good friends should.

"Well it seems that you two have bonded" Shayne said quietly as they crept in so as to not wake the others

"Yeah, were okay now, we just needed to find some common ground"

"And by the way, what's this I hear about you getting chased around campus by a group of girls at the beginning of the year. That had better have stopped or we are going to have a serious chat" Lina said resting her hands on her hips.

Shayne smiled, they were back to normal.

They all went to bed, Shayne was the last to fall asleep, he had too much on his mind, the letter still plagued his mind, did he want to know about his mother, or should he leave it in the past. She did leave him almost twenty years ago now, he was unsure so he decided to leave it until the morning, when he would tell the others about it.

* * *

The morning passed quickly, Shayne had forgotten to tell his team about the letter, they had been too busy trying to get to class on time. Shayne couldn't concentrate as the second he sat down his head buzzed around the letters he had read the day before.

He didn't realise that he was being spoken to;

"Shayne, are you even listening to me?" Lina said leaning into his line of sight

"What? Oh sorry, I was thinking about something else, what were you saying?"

"Uurgh, it doesn't matter now"

They sat in silence for a while, before Nora came crashing into the cafeteria;

"Hey guys, have I got some news for you"

"Nora, sit down and stop making a scene" Ren said grabbing her wrist and pulling her down onto the bench

"Now, what is this 'news' you have for us"

"Well, I was walking past Ozpin's office earlier and I overheard part of a conversation between him and some woman"

"What did you hear?" Yang asked

"Something about an open teaching position, he called her an old friend; he didn't sound very sincere about it, more like he was unsure if she was welcome here"

Shayne was lost in his thoughts as Nora rambled on, he couldn't bring himself to talk about the letter, not in front of all these people, and he changed his mind, he decided to tell them individually. Lina could see him concentrating hard on something and got his attention;

"Hey, Shayne, can I talk to you, in private" Shayne nodded and followed her out into the midday air and sat next to her on a bench, the sun danced through the trees.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Shayne, I can see that something is upsetting you, you haven't looked me in the eye all day, what's bothering you?"

Shayne's head dropped, 'well I suppose this is a good a time as any other'

"In that box yesterday, I got two letters, one from my grandfather"

"Yeah I saw that on the table after you stepped out, I put it back in the envelope before someone read it by accident"

"Thanks, it was sort of private" she smiled as he looked at her, she caught his eye, before she could read anything he turned away.

"Shayne…please….just talk to me" she said almost crying, she hated seeing him this way, it was the same when his grandfather died, and when he buried his Uncle.

*sigh*"Lina, you remember when we met, I told you that my parents had both died in the war" she nodded.

"Well, it seems that I was misinformed, there was a letter was from my mother, and the one from my grandfather said that it had come a few weeks after they had gone off to fight. She's alive in Mistral, and I don't know what to do" he looked up and she embraced him, he pulled away;

"Should I go see her after all this time, I mean I was fine with not knowing until now, but I just don't know anymore, what if she's nothing like I imagined her"

"Shayne I don't know what to tell you, when we were re-united and I found out what my mother had done, I needed to confront her about it, because that's just the kind person I am. I'll think no less of you for not wanting to find out why she hasn't tried to get in touch with you in all this time"

"That's it then, I'm going to Mistral"

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I need to do this on my own, and you need to keep up with the school work" she grimaced at the thought

"Don't remind me, I've already got three essays due in a couple of days, so when are you going?"

"I'll have to go talk to Ozpin; I may have to wait until the weekend"

"Well, that gives you time to tell the others, so even if you can go early why don't you stay and tell them the situation"

Shayne stood up, and she followed him to their next class. The rest of the day passed with Shayne concentrating more on his work, since talking to Lina had eased his mind over the issue with the letter. On the way to his final class of the day, he saw her, the woman from the warehouse, 'What's she doing here' he watched her pass by, she smiled at him, her golden eyes burning into him. He almost bumped into Ozpin;

"Oh, sorry professor I didn't see you there" Shayne said straightening himself up

"That's quite alright Shayne, I see something caught your attention about our new member of staff" his face turned stony as he watched her turn the corner

"Professor, I was going to come see you later, but as you're here can I ask you something?"

"Of course, what's on your mind?"

"In that box you gave me the other day, there was two letters, one from my grandfather and the other was from my mother"

"I see, in case you're wondering, no, I don't know why you weren't told that your mother was alive"

"That's okay, the reason I wanted to talk to you is that I want to go and see her, she's in Mistral and I know the address of her store…"

"You want to know if you can go. Shayne I'm afraid that I can't let you go until this weekend"

"I understand, well I'd better get to class. Oh before I go, what is she going to teach?" he said motioning behind him

"That's for her to decide, she hasn't really told me what her expertise is in, why do you ask?"

"It's just that I've seen her before, in the warehouse when I went with Adam" Ozpin's face hardened

"Thank you for bringing that to my attention, Shayne, I will look into it" Shayne took his leave and arrived late to class, he didn't care, he was more concerned with the fact that Ozpin was lying to him.

His mind was on the weekend, he was focused on his parents, and he had laid the last memories he had of them, to rest with his Grandfather. He was still unsure on how he would tell his team.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Shayne woke early and woke the rest of his team, taking care to put his hand over Hanna's mouth to keep her from shouting at him, she liked to sleep. With them all awake he sat them down on the sofa and began to pace before them. Hanna yawned and looked concerned;

"Shayne what's going on?" Hanna said rubbing her eyes

"We'll you know I got that box a couple of days ago" they nodded,

"In it were two letters, the first was from my Grandfather it explained about the second letter...which was from my mother"

"Wait a second, I thought you said your parents were dead" Dundra asked blinking sleep from his eyes

"As far as I was concerned, when we met, they were, well my father still is dead"

"So what has this got to do with us?" Eddi asked unfazed by the early wake up.

"To be honest, not a thing, I'm going to see her in Mistral this weekend and I thought that I would let you know what was going on" he said finally stopping pacing.

"Shayne, at least you had the courage to tell us about this" Dundra said as Lina walked over.

Eddi made a decision, she would tell them about her past, and about the things she had done and seen. That could wait until later, for now they had to get dressed for classes.

Later that day Shayne was on his way to his last class, he hadn't been able to concentrate all day. He realised that he had left an essay at his dorm, and ran back to get it. He opened the door and Ashe was sat on her bed crying softly holding her Scroll.

"Ashe, are you okay?" her head shot up and she wiped her face.

"Y-yeah Shayne I'm fine, what are you doing here?"

"I came back to get an essay, are you sure okay, you don't look like you are"

"Yes I'm fine can we drop the subject" she said shutting her Scroll

"Well what are you doing here, shouldn't you be in class?"

"I could ask you the same"

"Good point, well I'm already so late now as it is I may as well not go" Shayne said putting his things away and taking off his jacket.

Ashe watched him cross the room and walk into the bathroom. The shower began to hiss as water struck the tiles.

"Shayne…I have something I want to tell you" she said standing next to the door.

It opened suddenly and Shayne peered out.

"Can it wait until I finish in here" he was shirtless and Ashe had to resist the urge to drool.

"Uh…of course it can wait, sorry for disturbing you" she quickly walked over to her bed and looked at her Scroll again. Various images of Shayne flipped along the screen.

Shayne emerged from the shower a few minutes later, he was half dressed, he'd only made the mistake of walking out in just a towel once, and at least it was only Hanna that had noticed. Ashe looked up from her Scroll as he sat down at his workbench.

"Shayne, I really need to tell you something"

"Oh right, so what is it Ashe?"

"I'm in love with a guy who is dating someone and I don't know if I should tell him how I feel"

"Well, you should probably try to tell him in private how you feel and see where it goes from there"

"Well, okay…Shayne…"

"Yes Ashe?"

"I just told you…"

Shayne blinked a couple of times in disbelief, when suddenly Lina and Hanna came walking through the door, Lina made a bee-line straight for Shayne.

"Where the fuck were you?"

"I was here" Shayne said standing up.

"Why weren't you in class?"

I forgot something so I came back here, by the time I found what I was looking for I was too late to class to bother going so I didn't, and I got thinking about the letter…"

"Well because of you I got lumbered with a load of essay work to do and Ozpin is coming here later to see you" Shayne looked down at his gauntlet and stood up, making for the door.

"Where are you going? Ozpin could be here any minute"

"I'm taking a walk, alone"

"No you're staying here" Lina threw his knife at him; he turned and caught the blade.

"I'll be back soon"

Shayne left and encountered Ozpin while out on his walk.

"Shayne, why didn't you attend your class today?"

"I was thinking about the letter from my mother"

"What about it?"

"Well it's been taking all of my concentration and I was wondering…"

"I said that you couldn't go early but if it has this much of your concentration, then I suppose you could go early if it would let you get this out of your mind"

"What about my team?"

"If it means so much to you then they can go as well"

"Thank you Professor, but I'd like to go a day before the rest as I have things I need to do"

"Okay then, I'll let you go prepare, you can leave tonight" with that Ozpin walked away.

Shayne gazed into the sky, he didn't know what to expect and he was nervous. He walked back to his dorm. A pair of yellow eyes watched from the shadows, they burned with hate.

'I will have my vengeance Shayne' the eyes thought before turning and disappearing into the shadows.

Shayne arrived back at the dorm and began packing, drawing confused looks from everyone.

"Shayne…what's going on, you're not leaving are you?"

"No Hanna I'm not leaving I'm just taking a trip to go visit my mother in Mistral"

"Then I'm coming with you"

"No you guys are coming in a couple of days, there's some things I need to do alone…"

"But…"

"Hanna drop it, if he says he has things he needs to do alone, then we should respect that"

"Thank you Dundra, Lina take care of yourself, I'll see you in two days at most" they shared an embrace and when she eventually let go, he picked up his bag and walked out.

Shayne met Ozpin at the Bullhead.

"Shayne, this will take you to the docks so you can board a ship for Mistral, I hope you find what you're looking for"

"So do I professor…" Shayne stepped aboard the Bullhead and it hauled itself into the sky.

Shayne stood on the edge of the platform gazing down at Vale as it sped along under him, the lights of the street lamps switching on in the fading light of day. The streets were still full of people going about their business. He arrived at the docks late, the ship was minutes away from departing, he was climbing the slope to board the ship when he heard a familiar voice swear after a crash.

He turned and saw Ellice on the shore line; he made his way down and helped pick up her things.

"Thank you so much, I'm just clumsy…Oh, hey Shayne, long time no see"

"Likewise, so what takes you to Mistral this fine evening?"

"I'm going to see my supplier, I haven't received my normal shipment of paint, and what about you Shayne, why are you going?" she said as they climbed the gangplank.

"I have my reasons; I'd rather not talk about it"

"Oh come on, you can trust me" she smiled and pushed him lightly.

He remembered how she had helped them to deal with the Grimm all those weeks ago, the memory of his uncle flashed in his mind.

*sigh* "Fine, I'm going to see my mother for the first time ever since she left when I was a baby"

"My god, why did she leave, do you know?"

"My dad and her went to fight in the war, leaving me with my grandparents"

"And what about your dad, where is he?"

"He's dead, I thought my mother was too until I got a letter from my Grandfathers will from her, it explained that after my dad had died she had gone to Mistral and opened a store, and I'm assuming that's she is still there as the letter is almost as old as I am"

"Well, once I've visited my supplier we'll go see her together"

"I have some other business as well that I need to do first, but I'd like that Ellice"

The trip took several hours and Shayne managed to find a cabin so that Ellice could sleep. He decided to take a walk. His meandering brought him to the top deck and into the open air, the moon shone bright in the dark sky, casting a silver glow on the calm waters.

He leant against the guard rail and a girl came and stood next to him.

"Evening, what are you doing out here all by your lonesome?"

"Am I not allowed to be alone?"

"I'm not saying you're not allowed to be alone, it's just that I'm alone too"

"What's your point…" he gestured trying to coax her into giving up her name

"Rose, my name's Rose"

"Nice to meet you Rose, I'm Shayne"

"Well nice to meet you too, my point is I thought we could be alone together"

"I have a girlfriend"

"Oh, well where's she?"

"She's back in Vale"

"Then why don't we go for a drink?"

Shayne sighed and his head dropped, he knew she wasn't going to drop this.

"Fine, but I'm not paying for your drinks" Rose laughed and punched him in the arm.

They sat talking and drinking long into the early hours before Rose asked him to walk her back to her cabin, Shayne was a gentleman and took her back to her room, she fell over half way there so he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. He opened the door and put her down on the bed, she grabbed hold of his lapels and kissed him. Shayne was drunk, he knew this was wrong but he couldn't help himself.

* * *

The next morning Shayne woke up to find Rose's head on his bare chest, he raised his head and looked out the window, Mistral was just becoming visible on the horizon, they would be arriving in the next few hours. He tried to sit up, but Rose stirred ad he stopped, instead he took a pillow and slipped it under her head as he got out of bed. He made a mental note to drink less and gathered his clothes. He was dressing when she woke.

"Hey, good morning Shayne"

"Rose, last night was a mistake….im sorry"

"Why, your girlfriend never has to know"

"That's not the point, I shouldn't have had sex with you, I should go"

"Shayne, you're such an asshole"

"Why am I an asshole?"

"You made me love you and now you're leaving, typical men, get the fuck out" she shouted the last part and he left without another word.

Later that morning Rose was sat in the restaurant on the upper deck when she was approached by a male in his early twenties.

"do you want to get back at him?" he said from behind her.

"Who are you and what are you talking about?"

"Shayne…do you want to get back at him?"

"Of course but what's this got to do with you?"

"Let me explain…" he sat down at the table and told her his plan.

* * *

The ship arrived at Mistral at around 11:45 and Shayne disembarked with Ellice.

"Shayne, you seem troubled, did something happen last night?"

"No Ellice I'm fine, now come on we've got things to do"

They walked for a while with Ellice leading the way, they mostly walked in silence, Shayne eventually had Ellice wait in a café while he went and did something in private.

He walked down an alley way to an almost perfectly hidden doorway, known only to those who have contacts and the know how to find it. He knocked on the door and an eye panel slid open, a pair of green eyes squinted at him through the shade of the alley.

"Yes, what do you want?"

"I'm here to purchase some merchandise"

"Really and how do you intend to pay?"

Shayne held up a brown packet, it was as thick as the man's arm.

"Very well, do come in" the door opened and Shayne stepped inside and allowed his eyes to adjust to the white lights of the store before moving around the glass cases.

He looked in several and found what he was looking for, he signalled the store clerk and he came over and unlocked the case. Shayne pointed at the pieces and the clerk handed one to him and Shayne examined it closely, checking it for imperfections or any indication that it was fake. One he was happy handed it back to the clerk.

"And how would you like these packaged sir"

"Individual boxes" Shayne said putting the package on the case

The clerk nodded and took the jewellery and came back a few minutes later with them in individual boxes, Shayne inspected them again to ensure he hadn't been duped.

"Now why would I switch them out for fakes, you're paying by cash"

"Can't be too careful, now there's seventy five hundred in there, that's more than enough for these and you know it, but I'll let you keep the rest if it means I get to leave alive" Shayne knew that as soon as he stepped outside he would be jumped and killed to get the rings back.

"You really are observant, very well you may keep them, I bid you good day" the clerk opened the door and the large men stepped inside and bowed their heads to Shayne as he left.

* * *

Shayne went back to Ellice stowing the small cases in his inside breast pocket. They continued walking until they arrived at Ellice's supplier. She was about to go inside when Shayne grabbed hold of her wrist.

"What are we doing here?"

"This is my supplier, is something wrong"

"This is the same place as my mother told me to come…."


	8. Chapter 8

"What?"

"Here look at the letter" Shayne took the letter from his pocket and handed it to her as a pair of men walked into the store.

"My god Shayne, your right, but now that we're here what's your plan?"

"I don't know…" he tailed off as the men who had gone in before them had the clerk at gunpoint.

The pair came running from the store and Shayne whisked Ellice into a corner to shield her from anything that might happen. She felt his breath on her face, she caught his eye and she blushed. Shayne moved away as the clerk came out of the door, she noticed the weapons on Shayne's back and spoke to him.

"Hey kid, if you get back what they stole there a reward in it for you"

Shayne turned his head slightly, flashed his teeth and nodded before taking off after them.

"Ellice, how nice to see you, who was your friend, you finally got a boyfriend?"

"No Selena, he's just a friend"

"So what brings you to see me today?"

"I'm here about my paint"

"Aah okay then come on in, I'll get it sorted for you…"

* * *

Shayne caught the thieves with relative ease; they had left people and trash cans in their wake as they ran. They were in an alleyway, checking the money when he came up behind them. One turned to face him and remembered seeing him outside the store they had just robbed.

"What the fuck do you want, punk"

"I want the contents of that bag there" Shayne said pointing to the backpack that was being held open, inside were wrapped packages and money, lots of it.

"Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do if we don't give it to you?" the other said brandishing the gun, while his partner took out a machete.

Shayne removed his hood, revealing his ears, and drawing his katana.

"You guys have obviously never met a hunter before, now hand over the bag or I'll pry it from your cold dead hands" Shayne said pointing his sword at them.

They zipped it up and the one with the gun aimed at Shayne, he pulled the trigger. The bullet careened across the space between them, Shayne split the bullet and rushed the pair, disarming the one with the gun sending it skittering across the concrete. Shayne parried a slash and kicked the other in the stomach; the machete fell from his grasp and he dropped to one knee. He looked up to find the tip of Shayne's blade at his throat.

"Now hand me the bag, or I'll have to do something that you'll regret" Shayne said pulling his knife from his thigh.

The one that used to have the gun, threw Shayne the bag, he caught it with the tip of his knife sliding it up his arm and over his shoulder. Shayne removed the blade from his throat and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him unconscious. His partner just stood there and watched Shayne back out of the alley, stowing his weapons and pulling up his hood. Shayne set off at a run back to the store.

Three people saw what had happened in that alleyway, all wanted him either dead or to suffer. The white hooded male took off over the roof tops after him, while the other two walked the streets in silence. They weren't working together but were working towards a common goal.

* * *

Shayne detoured back to the docks to meet the rest of his team, they were waiting on the sidewalk looking frazzled and over tired.

"You guys look like shit"

"Shut up will you and help carry Hanna's stuff" Dundra said dropping several bags on the floor.

"Why did she pack so much?"

"Because she's a girl"

"Good point" he hefted two of the bags onto his back as Dundra grabbed three more.

"Dundra be careful, you'll ruin my shoes"

"Fuck your shoes, next time pack less or I'm going to throw it over board next time"

Hanna smiled and winked.

"Hanna, he's right you do over pack you know"

"Lina, I thought you'd be on my side!"

"You know I'll happily go shopping with you but come on, 6 suitcases for a 3 day trip, it seems a bit much" Eddi nodded, she had only brought a single suitcase and her weapons cases.

Hanna pouted and folded her arms. She picked up a couple of her bags and walked after them. It took almost half an hour to get back to the hotel where they'd be staying. Once they had settled in to their rooms they gathered in the foyer and went back to the store.

Shayne had his friends wait outside while he went in carrying the case that the thieves had taken.

"Aaah, I was starting to get worried, I see you got my case back, did they give you any trouble?"

"No not really"

"Good, anyway here's your reward for getting it back" she handed him 200 Lien; he put it securely in his inside breast pocket with the rings.

"Where's Ellice?"

"Oh she's in the back, come on through" he followed her through to the back of the store Ellice was sat on a couch.

"Now that I have case back I can mix your paint for you Ellice"

"Thanks Selena" Ellice smiles

Shayne went and stood by the wall, admiring the painting that hung there.

"That's one of mine, she said I could pay for some paint with a painting so I did this for her" Ellice said walking over to him.

"It's really good Ellice, my team is outside with Lina by the way"

"Oh do you want me to fetch them in?"

"No I have to talk to Selena first"

"Talk to me about what?"

"He needs to tell you something in private, so I'm just going to wait outside" Ellice left and went to talk to Shayne's team mates.

"Well, what is it" Shayne lowered his hood and removed his bandanna, he shook his head and smoothed out his ears, drawing attention to them.

Selena looked at his ears and her eye narrowed, she hadn't met many other Faunus while staying in Mistral, she thought she recognised the colour but she pushed the thoughts out of her mind as he turned around.

Shayne had tears in his eyes and was wringing his bandanna in his hands.

"Why did you leave" he said it so quietly that even with her advanced hearing she could barely make out he had said anything.

"Sorry? You'll have to speak up"

"I said why did you leave?" he said louder than before.

"I haven't left anything in…"

"Almost twenty years"

She covered her mouth with her hands and sat down on the sofa.

"Shayne, I can't believe it, you're here, and you're alive…."

"I'm here to find out why you left" Shayne said his face had returned to normal as he put his bandanna back on

"I left because your father and I left to go fight in the war…"

"I know that but why didn't you try to get back in touch with me"

"After I got out of prison I didn't know if you were alive or not, so I didn't risk the heartbreak of finding out you were"

"you could have at least sent a letter"

"Don't you think I wanted to, I knew that because I hadn't come back your grandparents would have just destroyed the letters"

"Then why did they keep the one that brought me here" Shayne threw the letter onto the table

"Because in the letter I sent them I asked them not to in memory of your father…" the room fell silent at his mention.

"That's all I wanted to know" he began to move towards the door when she stood up.

"Shayne…can you forgive me"

He turned and walked towards her, he stopped mere inches from her.

"I already have…" they shared an embrace; Shayne messaged Dundra with one hand to get them to come in.

When she heard the bell of the door, she released him and smoothed out her apron before walking out with a smile; Shayne followed her and leant against the door frame.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"We're with Shayne"

"All of you?"

"Yes, they're my team, and this is Lina, my girlfriend" he said walking up to her and kissing her.

"Hang on, what do you mean team Shayne?"

"I'm attending Beacon now"

"Wow, though I can't say I'm really surprised, why don't you all come on into the back and have a sit down" Hanna jumped at the chance to sit down, she didn't like all the standing and waiting that they'd just done.

They walked into the back and sat around the room, they sat talking for several hours about recent events and the past. They eventually left at 11:30, but not before Shayne had one last chat with his mother.

"I'm going to come back tomorrow and help you out with anything you need"

"Shayne you don't have to do that…"

"I know but I want to"

"Okay then, in fact I could use you tomorrow as I have a couple of men coming to pick up some things and I'd like someone here to make sure nothing happens"

"Okay, if you want I can have Dundra come as well"

"No you'll do just fine, now go on your friends are waiting for you, I'll see you tomorrow"

Shayne caught them up and they headed back to the hotel.

* * *

A pair of yellow eyes tracked them through the darkness, it was almost time for his vengeance, he just needed a way to draw Shayne away from the others. Rose and her new found ally watched from a nearby bench.

"Why are we just sitting here, we could take him out now and be done with it"

"He has allies now, we must meet with my employers and discuss this" he stood up and walked away, she huffed and followed after him.

* * *

Shayne had to meditate to calm his nerves before morning.

He had been meditating for 3 hours when something stirred him from his trance. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. Dundra was asleep and the girls were next door. He stood up and opened the door adjoining the two rooms, they were all asleep. He knew he had heard something so he donned his jacket and took one of his swords and stepped outside. He noticed a white cloak disappear around the corner at the end of the hall way, Shayne rested his hand on the handle of his blade and quickly crept to the corner only to see a fire escape swing closed. Shayne was determined to find out what was going on so he ran up the flight of stairs outside the door heading towards the roof.

When he arrived on the roof the white cloaked figure had stopped in the dead centre, his cloak blowing in the wind. Shayne slowly made his way further onto the roof, as he drew closer the figure turned. Shayne recognised him instantly.

"Kameron!"

"Shayne" he snarled.

"I haven't seen you in…"

"About eight years, when you killed my family"

"I killed no-one"

"Liar! You killed them and I know you did"

"Kam I tried explaining all those years ago, I'm not doing it again" Shayne gripped his blade as Kameron leant forward.

*cough* "I hate to break up such a touching moment but my boss wants you dead Shayne" Kameron turned at the sudden appearance of a shaven headed male.

"He's mine, butt out" Kameron snarled

"I'm not dying tonight" Shayne said addressing both of them as he drew his katana.

"Shayne, I wouldn't do that if I were you" he turned at her voice

"Rose what are you doing here!"

She dropped from her perch on the ventilation duct, and sauntered over to him.

"I'm here because you hurt me when you left me alone"

"I told you why I couldn't stay"

"But I love you Shayne"

"I'm sorry but I'm in love with my girlfriend"

Rose began to cry; she shook her head and walked to the stairs.

"Where are you going bitch, you're part of this"

"You're right Cross, I am" she charged at the man and tackled him to the floor.

"Shayne run, he's too strong…" he snapped her neck and she fell lifeless to the floor.

The male got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"This is why I work alone"

Kameron and Shayne looked at him, Shayne wanted to kill him now, she didn't deserve to die. Shayne strode forwards past Kameron. Kameron not wanting this random guy to kill Shayne charged as Shayne drew close.

Shayne ducked under Kameron's sword and dodged backwards as Cross swung his hatchet at him, Kameron collided with Cross and proceeded to tackle him of the edge of the building. He heard them crash into something but he couldn't see them when he looked over the edge of the building.

He returned to his team, ensuring that they were all okay, he didn't sleep or meditate, he sat and watched the sun rise. At around nine he went for a shower and got dressed. He called the police after breakfast giving them an anonymous tip about Rose's corpse on the roof. He had relieved her of her weapon and had decided to keep it in her memory.


	9. Chapter 9

Shayne told his team that he would find them later as he had things to do, Lina insisted on coming with him as did Ellice, Shayne knew better to argue with Lina so he let them come with him, Hanna Dundra and Eddi went into town to locate something that Eddi wanted.

They arrived at Shayne's mothers store at 11:30 am and when they walked in she was sat at the counter, she hid it well but Shayne knew she was upset about something. She looked up at the bell and quickly wiped her eyes as she saw them.

"I thought you'd be coming alone Shayne"

"So did I but they insisted on coming"

"So where are the others today?"

"They went to do something that Eddi needs to do"

"Okay then, Ellice can you go with Lina and make sure my kids are ready for school"

"Sure, c'mon Lina"Lina nodded and followed Ellice upstairs

Once Selena was sure that they were out of earshot she beckoned Shayne closer.

"Shayne, I told you about the men coming later, well they called just before you arrived and they moved up when they are coming to half one, and they seem to think I have security now, so they're bringing more than just the two, I'm not sure you'll be as useful as I thought"

"I know that Lina can handle herself in a fight…"

"Shayne that's not the point, I'm having trouble even having you here, let alone her and Ellice"

"I have an idea but it will take some time…"

"What is it; I may be able to help"

"I need a large open space and a large Dust crystal"

"Well I have a small warehouse out back and there's a Dust shop around the corner, if that's any help"

"It is, I'll be back soon"

Shayne left and quickly found the store, he was browsing the glass cases when a commotion was heard from the front desk, Shayne peered around the corner at the clerk, he was being held at gunpoint. Shayne counted two men at the counter and another keeping the other clientele quiet. Shayne made his way to the counter, nobody was looking at him. He was about to take one in a strangle hold when he was hit from behind, Shayne stumbled into the one holding the gun and it went sliding across the room.

He turned to find another of the thieves righting himself after hitting Shayne. Shayne straightened up and ducked an incoming punch, sending a jab to another of the thieves, by now the one who had been keeping the other patrons quiet had heard the commotion and had joined the fray. Shayne dodged punches and blocked kicks, delivering his own when he could. He was taken into a choke hold and was suffocated until he dropped to his knees pulling the thief over his shoulder and punching him in the face, knocking him unconscious. Shayne couldn't celebrate as he was hauled to his feet before being thrown through one of the glass cases; he felt a large shard of glass pierce his thigh as he rolled backwards off the Dust. The thieves advanced on him again as he removed the glass from his leg, he had just pulled it free when he was kicked in the face, he blinked the pain from his face as his nose was broken.

'Why am I taking such a beating today?' he thought as he was hauled to his feet again.

He looked one of the thieves in the eye and saw the familiar red glow of the Grimm. He felt around in his pocket for a weapon or something he could use, he closed his fingers around Rose's claw. His fingers slipped into the holes of the hand plate and as he squeezed claws shot out from the plate metal on the back of his hand, going straight through the arm of the guy holding Shayne.

Shayne pulled the claw free and turned to the last two thieves, they were clearly nervous but if they ran Shayne wouldn't hesitate to chase, so instead the rushed him at the same time. Shayne caught the arm of one and swung him into the other, they careened across the room before coming to rest unconscious against the wall. Shayne staggered forwards and the claw felt to pieces in his hand, he dropped to his knees as the clerk made his way gingerly over to him.

"Hey kid, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just give me a minute"Shayne said, grimacing as the gash in his leg was being healed.

The police arrived moments later and began cuffing the thieves. Shayne stood up as they were escorted from the building. He approached the counter holding a particularly large crystal from the case he had been thrown through.

"I'd like to purchase this crystal but it needs to be cut to specific dimensions"

"Well, what dimensions do you need?"

Shayne handed him a scrap a paper with the dimensions scrawled on it, the clerk disappeared out to the back room as the police dealt with the other people in the store, and Shayne heard the grinding of metal through Dust. The clerk came back a few moments later the crystal already wrapped in a paper bag.

"Thanks how much do I owe you?"

"Nothing at all, you saved both my store and my life today, take it as a gift" Shayne smiled and walked out ignoring the reporters completely.

He arrived back at his mother's store and Lina ran straight up to him and kissed him. When she eventually let him go his mother was smirking.

"Is the warehouse ready?"

"Well its empty if that's what you mean" Shayne nodded and walked out, leaving Lina with his mother.

He walked over to the large delivery door and slid it open, a gust of fresh mid-morning air wafted in. he strode over to the center of the room and put the crystal on the ground. He knelt down facing both it and the open doorway; he closed his eyes and waited.

* * *

"Dundra we need to talk"

"What about?"

"Where is this relationship going?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think we should break up dammit!" Dundra stopped, he stood speechless.

"Dundra…are you okay?" He turned at the new voice.

"Nelwyn? What are you doing here in Mistral?"

"I'm having an unofficial vacation, what about you guys?"

"We're here as a team but Shayne and Lina are helping his mom and Hanna is somewhere around"

"Okay, Dundra you look upset, is something wrong?"

"No…everything is fine"

"Dundra we need to talk about this"

"Eddi, there's nothing to talk about, you've made up your mind"

"I'm not sure that this is the best place to be talking about this guys"

"You're right Nelwyn, Dundra lets go back to the hotel and talk about this"

"No, I said there's nothing to talk about" he stormed off

"Dundra! Wait…!"

He didn't stop, Nelwyn put her arm around Eddi and they walked back to the hotel.

* * *

A dark shadow passed by one of the warehouse windows, and Nemea walked in through the large door. Shayne opened his eyes as he approached.

"Nemea, I haven't had to call you for some time, how are things in the forest"

'Nothing new, but right now we are being watched' Nemea looked to Ellice and she yelped involuntarily. Shayne looked over and stood up.

"Sh-Shayne…we should probably run"

"Don't worry about him, he won't hurt you" he held out his hand, she took it gingerly.

Shayne led her to where he had been knelt, and sat her down next to him, keeping his hand in hers, a deep voice echoed in Ellice's mind.

'Greetings Ellice, you fear me, do not be afraid child I mean you no harm' Ellice was shaking slightly.

"Nemea, I require some assistance from you"

'You know that I am glad to help, what is it that you need'

"I want to channel some of my Grimm into this crystal" Nemea nodded and Shayne focused on the crystal before him. It rose about an inch above the ground and remained there as Grimm leapt from Shayne's arm into the Crystal turning it black as night, tendrils of darkness spilled from its edges. Nemea snarled and the flow of Grimm from Shayne's arm slowed an eventually ceased. He flexed his hand as the Grimm settled once more, the crystal now floated of its own accord. Shayne inhaled deeply and blinked repeatedly, his eyes had dried out while transferring the Grimm.

Shayne moved his hand under the crystal and it moved with his hand, floating an inch above it at all times. He stood up but Ellice remained seated, she looked quizzically at Nemea. He roared quietly and she panicked, she ran to Shayne as he neared the door.

"Ellice, I told you he's harmless"

"That doesn't make him any less terrifying" Shayne smiled and patted her hand.

He sat down at the table in the back room of the store and put the crystal on the table. He held up his left hand and he projected his mind into the crystal, he formed the Grimm into a physical shape that could be projected from the crystal, he chose the one thing that came naturally, a wolf. He formed it around the residual Auras that sat in the area, picking out his mother's Aura as well as her families; he also added his team, Ellice and Lina. He removed himself from the crystal and awoke to find his mother stood over him trying to wake him.

"Shayne, thank goodness you're okay"

"I told you he'd be fine Selena; he often zones out like that and comes out of it within minutes, so we don't worry about it anymore"

"Mom, if I told you to name a pet what would you call it?"

"I'd probably call it what I'd call my next son, if I was going to have one"

"Which is?"

"I'd call it Blaine"

Shayne smiled and stared into the crystal again, his eyes glazed over and Selena's brow furrowed again. After a few moments Shayne blinked and grabbed the crystal, allowing it to settle above his hand before speaking.

"Now call Blaine"

"But none of us are called Blaine"

"Selena, just indulge him I think I know where this is going" Lina said folding her arms

"Oh all right….Blaine!"

The word barely left her mouth and the crystal became perfectly still and emitted a low hum as the tendrils of Grimm thickened and began to pool on the floor. The pool became about 3 feet in diameter and was perfectly circular; it boiled as a shape began to rise from it. A wolf, about 5 feet long and 3 feet high now stood in the middle of the circle, pitch black with a bone white face, its eyes glowed red.

"Sh-Shayne what is that thing" his mom said nervously while slowly backing away from the large Grimm.

"Now don't panic, but it's a Grimm, I made it to help you stay safe"

"How did you make a Grimm Shayne" Ellice asked confused herself.

He held out his left arm and the tattoos writhed as if on cue.

"Shayne, when did you get that done?"

"Well I didn't get it done more, it just happened over night and I woke up with it, it's been my curse for almost seven years now" he flexed his hand.

The large wolf padded over to Selena and licked her hand before sitting next to her.

"Shayne, I'm not sure about this, so it's friendly with me and you, but what about my kids and my husband…."

"I've tuned it not to harm any of you using the residual Auras that I could sense in the area" she gave him a look of scepticism.

"Well, isn't it almost time for those guys to get here?" Selena looked at the clock and she grimaced. She nodded and turned to Ellice.

"Could you go look after my kids upstairs please" Ellice nodded

"Lina, you should go too, just in case"

"But Shayne…"

"No buts just go" Lina pouted and folded her arms tightly before going up the stairs after Ellice.

About a minute later the door opened ringing the bell. Blaine's head raised as Selena walked through to the front accompanied by Shayne.

"Selena, it's that time again"

"Yes gentlemen, I know but I don't think you know my son, Shayne" he nodded at them from the doorway.

"Enough of this, give us what we came for or I'm gonna be forced to do something ill regret" the larger of the two men said drawing a machete from his belt.

Shayne was behind him in a split second, with a knife to his throat.

"Or ill do something you'll regret, put the machete away, now" the man slowly sheathed the blade and brought his hands released him and stepped away.

"Good, now let's conduct this properly" he looked to his mother who pulled out a black case.

"I want 50%"

"No, you get 35%" Blaine padded into the room, their eyes were drawn to the animal and the small man gulped slightly.

"Okay 45% percent, that's all we can offer"

"It'll do, for now" money exchanged hands and the men went on their way.

"Shayne I can't thank you enough for that, last time I got almost nothing now at least my family can have some nice things"

"I don't want any more part of this, Blaine is yours but when I leave I may not be back for a long time" She nodded as Lina and Ellice walked in.

"They're fine Selena they were watching TV"

"Good you guys are free to go now if you want; it's about time I closed up anyway" She walked to the door, turned the sign to closed and locked the door. Shayne looked at Lina and Ellice.

"So what do you wanna do now?"

Before either of them could answer Shayne's Scroll went off. It was a message from Dundra.

'We have your friend, come to the docks at midnight if you want him back alive'

Shayne looked grim, Lina looked at the message and they left without another word.


	10. Chapter 10

Shayne and Lina left Ellice with Selena and went back to the hotel to find Eddi and Hanna panicking.

"Guys what's going on?"

"Shayne thank god you're back, Dundra's gone missing"

"I know, I got this sent to me" he said handing Eddi his Scroll, she looked it over and her face hardened.

"Eddi, calm down, we have a few hours to prepare"

*sigh*"I guess you're right, so, what's your plan"

Shayne explained that he, Hanna and Lina would go to get Dundra while Eddi kept watch from afar with her sniper rifle, Eddi liked this plan as if she was there she wouldn't be able to contain herself. They set about making sure that all their gear was clean and up to scratch and then they waited.

Shayne stared out of the window for several hours; he watched the sun set and the moon rise. At 10:15 he got another message detailing exactly where the meeting would take place. Eddi packed up the rifle and climbed out the window as Shayne pointed out where they would be and where it would be best for her to take up position.

At 11:30 Shayne and the others left the room and headed for the docks.

* * *

Eddi sat on the roof top piecing together her rifle, the wind whistled through the grates of the ventilation system. Eddi cocked her head as she heard the sound of feet on gravel she turned in an instant, pulling a Skorpion micro SMG from her thigh, and aiming it straight at the stranger's face.

"Whoa, calm down Ed, it's only me" it was dark and Eddi couldn't quite see who it was. She calmed as an emerald green fireball ignited in front of her, illuminating both of them. The man stood in front of her wearing a green t-shirt and dark-green cargo pants with a crossbow strapped to his back. His brown hair hair shifted in the breeze and he looked happy as he held the fireball in his palm. The midnight cold seemed to have no effect on him.

"Ralen, what are you doing here?"

"We, are here just taking some time out, where are the other guys in your team?"

"Were running an op, Dundra's in trouble, where's the rest of your team?"

"Here" Silver said walking up behind Ralen, Lance and Jiang joined them moments later. Silver was a white tiger Faunus whose white hair went down to her shoulders. She wore Ralen's trench coat and it covered the majority of her body. Only her tight leather jeans poked out the bottom.

Jiang was a beautiful Chinese girl who wore an amber Cheongsam and had an amber coloured coat over her torso. Lance trailed her, wearing a white and indigo coloured suit. His indigo sniper rifle glinted in the green light.

"You know, I always get confused between you and Lance from FLLN" Eddi remarked.

"How? He's a gigantic man who hardly ever talks and I'm me. Only thing we share is our names."

"So what's going on Eddi?" Jiang asked.

"Dundra has been taken hostage and Shayne, Hanna and Lina are going to get him while I run over watch" Eddi's radio buzzed into life.

'Eddi are you all set there?'

"Yes Shayne I'm all good, AGIS is here too"

'Put Jiang on' Eddi handed her the earpiece

"Shayne anything we can do to help?"

'Get Lance to stay up there with Ed, and make your way down to us, I'll fill you in when you get here' Jiang handed back the earpiece to Eddi.

"Lance, you're here with Ed, the rest of us are going to go down there and help the others out"

"You sure you don't need my skills in there? There will most likely be a few enemies."

"Shayne is running this op and we're just going to listen to his plan. You and Eddi sniping will definitely give us an advantage"

"Yeah, don't worry man. I'm sure someone will be stupid enough to get in your sights" Ralen said to his friend.

Lance shouldered his rifle and took up position next to Eddi as she told the others where they were waiting, it was 11:45, there wasn't much time to get there.

* * *

Shayne waited a few minutes until AGIS arrived.

"Silver, good to see you as usual" she smiled at Hanna

"Shayne what do you need us to do?" Jiang asked abruptly

"Straight to business then, I want you and Silver out here to cover our escape, Ralen can you get into the rafters and just watch for any treachery?"

"Of course I can."

"Good, if something goes wrong I want you to get Dundra out of there"

Shayne was jumped on from behind, instinctively he threw his attacker down the alley, she landed in a crouch and stood up smiling, her pink hair blowing in the wind.

"Goddamn it Nelwyn, why must you do that"

"Because it's fun"

"Well since you're here you might as well help too"

"Why, what are you doing?"

"We're saving Dundra" Lina said flexing her gauntlet.

Nelwyn became deadly serious and she decided to go in with them, Shayne didn't argue because it was pointless arguing with her. Shayne's Scroll beeped midnight and he turned to watch a large door open on a warehouse.

'Sniper team ready, you ready Shayne?'

"Let's get this over with"

Ralen set off at a run towards the building scaling it with ease and getting in through a window. Silver and Jiang waited in the shadows opposite to the warehouse.

Shayne, Nelwyn, Lina and Hanna walked into the ware house, it was dark, but Shayne and Lina could clearly see Dundra tied to a chair. Hanna and Nelwyn made sure that the door wouldn't close behind them by moving a crate under it. When they re-joined Shayne and Lina a single light turned on illuminating Dundra, his armour shone in the night. At least thirty men stepped out of the shadows.

"Hello again Shayne" Shayne gritted his teeth

"I killed you weeks ago, how are you still alive Adam!"

"Yes that wound should have killed me but it didn't so here I am"

"What do want with us?" Hanna asked

"Not you, just him" Adam said gesturing at Shayne.

The various men drew their weapons, Shayne and his friends readied theirs. Ralen made ready to get Dundra out.

All hell broke loose as a skylight came crashing down, and a hooded figure landed taking out two of the White Fang. Shayne recognised him instantly, but didn't have time to react as members of the White Fang came at them, Shayne carved a path towards Dundra, cutting down anyone in his path, his katanas flashed, and blood sprayed everywhere.

Jiang and Silver heard the skylight crash to the floor and the sound of metal on metal as a fight raged on inside. Eddi and Lance couldn't see what was going on, Eddi cursed and stood up. Lance kept his eye trained on the building.

Ralen sprinted across the rafters getting ever closer to Dundra, once he was directly above him, the skylight came crashing down around him. He watched the hooded figure kill two men before drawing a small hand axe, not dis-similar to Shayne's, and began to decimate the men below. Using the confusion he dropped to the floor, freed Dundra and helped him out of a side door, stopping only to get Dundra's weapons.

Jiang and Silver couldn't wait any longer; they ran at the door as Ralen helped Dundra away from the warehouse back to where they had been. By the time that the girls made it in, all the men were dead and it was just Shayne, Adam and the hooded figure stood in the center of the room.

Silver and Jiang stood by Hanna and Lina as the three men squared off. Standing completely still as the wind wound its way through the stacks of crates. A single shot pierced the air; it sailed past Shayne's head and lodged in Adam's chest. In the split second it hit, Shayne whipped around and threw his knife at the hooded figure and severed Adam's head from his shoulders. The hooded figure dodged and leapt at Shayne, Nelwyn intercepted him with a running kick and sent him sprawling across the floor.

Lance reloaded his rifle.

* * *

Selena got a knock on the door, even though it was midnight she thought it was Shayne she answered the door.

A single shot sounded in the night.

* * *

Shayne strode over to the hooded figure, and pinned him to the floor with his sword.

"Kameron, I'm giving you this one last chance, leave me alone or ill be forced to end you" a single drop of blood hung on the tip of the blade in Shayne's hand.

"Shayne, you killed my family I will never forgive you for that"

"Then don't, just get outta my life"

"Kam, why must you pursue this, it's been years" all heads turned to Nelwyn

"Because he is responsible for it"

"I tried telling you I didn't kill them before and you wouldn't listen, so I'm done" Shayne whipped his sword away sending the single drop of blood flying across the room.

Shayne strode away, he retrieved his knife and left, Hanna, Lina, Silver and Jiang at his heels.

"Nel, I'm going to kill him"

"No Kam, you're not, he's my friend and no matter how long we've been friends I won't let you do that" Nelwyn flourished her Glaive.

"I never could beat you"

"Now leave him be, let's talk"

* * *

Shayne walked over to where Dundra and Ralen were, he and the others arrived as Lance and Eddi dropped down off a roof-top.

"Dundra are you okay?"

"Shayne, we need to get back to your mums place, now"

"Why what's going on?"

"No time to explain, we need to hurry" Dundra shouldered his gear and ran off.

The others had to sprint to keep up with him, it took a few minute but they eventually got there. Shayne saw that the door was open and the police tape the crossed the door brought him to tears.

"We're too late, I'm so sorry Shayne" Dundra said breaking the tape. The group went inside with Dundra helping Shayne in, the police had only covered the bodies. Shayne didn't want to look but he had to be sure. He knelt down and pulled the cloth down. It was his mother; a single bullet had torn through her brain, killing her instantly. He didn't want to look at the other bodies as they were a lot smaller so he knew who they were.

Shayne stood up tears running down his face.

"I want you all to leave; I'll be along in a moment…."

His friends did as he asked.

He stood in the center of the room, he screamed as Grimm flew off of him in waves, destroying all evidence that his mother even existed, save for a small necklace. Shayne picked up the Crystal that floated on the shelf, the Grimm poured from him into it, it glowed black and he pocketed it.

"Blaine, come…" the dark wolf appeared at his side and followed him into the night.

As Shayne was leaving, he noticed something on the wall opposite the door. Shayne recognised the symbol; the bald guy from the rooftop had it tattooed onto his face. Shayne felt the rage build inside him and he punched the symbol and the bricks crumbled to dust on impact. Shayne caught up with the others and they headed back to the hotel.

* * *

AGIS had returned to where they were staying and SHDE assembled in one of the rooms with Ellice, who had left Shayne's moms store at around 11 so she had evaded the same fate as his mother.

Shayne stared out the window.

"Dundra, who did this…."

"Some guy called Cross"

"Did he have this symbol on his face" Shayne tossed a scrap of paper to him

"I don't know, I never saw his face"

Shayne punched the wall.

"Dammit! Who is this guy"

"None of my contacts know anything about him" Eddi said putting her Scroll down

"Neither do mine" Hanna added

"Fuck, when I next see this guy I'm gonna kill the son of a bitch"

"Shayne calm down"

"No Lina I can't calm down" Shayne threw his knife at the door; Dundra caught it and strode over to Shayne and hit him.

"Calm down or I'm going to have to put you on your ass" Shayne nursed his jaw and stood up slowly.

*sigh* "Thanks I needed that"

There was a knock at the door, Hanna answered it promptly. It was AGIS.

"Oh hey guys, what are you doing here?"

"We thought we'd come and check on Shayne" Silver looked at her fellow Faunus

"I'm fine guys, really I am"

"You don't look it" Jiang said taking note of his bloody lip and his red eyes.

"Shayne c'mon lets go have a drink" Lance said gesturing to him.

"With pleasure" Shayne walked past them and headed for the elevator.

* * *

Back in Vale a man with a shaven head and a tattooed face walked into a warehouse.

"So it's done then"

"Yes it's done; you will have what you want soon enough"

"Good, she will be pleased"

A case was placed on the table

"And the loose ends?"

"All neatly tied up for you, he dealt with that himself"

"Good, your bonus is waiting for you at your safe house"

"Goodbye Roman"

"Goodbye Cross, pleasure doing business with you"

He took the case and walked away, dispatching the assassins without blinking.

The door slammed shut behind him.

'Now that I'm not under contract, it's time for you to die, Shayne Oceanstrider'

**Big S/O to GuyFromPandora for letting me use his team, AGIS, if you want to see more of them go check out his story, Remnants shield, he could use the support of all you lovely people who keep reading, don't know what I'd do without you. other than that i dont have much really to say. Oh, if you feel like there is something that you think could be changed dont hesitate to leave a review, as some reader input would be appreciated.**

**As always, thanks so much for reading.**

**-TheWolfbane987**


	11. Chapter 11

SHDE and AGIS traveled back to Vale together, Shayne and Lance were spending time just trying to get Shayne out of his rage filled depression, mostly by drinking but also by sparring as needed. Shayne was good, but in this state a baby could beat him if they tried.

Lina was trying her best to calm him down but he wouldn't let her get close to him, she sat up crying all night. Hanna and Silver tried their best to calm her down but when Lina did finally fall asleep they felt awkward so Hanna broke the silence.

"Silver, why is there so much tension between us?"

"Umm…err…"

"What, is it because I'm gay?"

"Sort of…"

"Well just tell me what's bothering you"

"It's hard to explain, so I'll just show you instead" silver took Hanna's head in her hands and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Uhm…err…uh…oh" Hanna stammered but no words escaped her mouth.

"I know you're with Yang but I just can't help it"

"I-I'm glad you d-did to be honest, m-me and Yang have been going through s-some rough patches recently and I think she's going to break up with me as it is" Hanna stuttered as Silver rested her hands on her thigh.

Silver smiled and got up, winking as she closed the door, Hanna felt herself blush in the darkness.

* * *

Dundra and Eddi had finally got over the fact that they had broken up and they were talking like adults now, Nelwyn didn't like it so she decided to liven it up.

"Dundra, I hope that this won't interfere with the team"

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see"

"You know what I think?" Nelwyn interjected

"No Nelwyn, what do you think"

"I think that you two should do it one last time, for old times' sake"

"No, Nelwyn that wouldn't be a good idea" Eddi said rubbing her temples

"Why not, I did it with all my exes and I haven't seen any of them in years"

"Didn't you use to date that guy from the warehouse?"

"What Kam, shit I guess you're right, well ignore me"

"Nelwyn are you bored?" Eddi asked annoyed

"God yes"

"Why don't you go see Kam, he's on the top deck"

"WHAT! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I wanted to make sure you still liked him"

"Goddamn you Eddi"

Nelwyn stormed out, barely missing Jiang.

"What's up with Nelwyn?"

"Oh nothing, what can we do for you Jiang"

"Oh I was wondering if you guys had seen Lance and Shayne anywhere."

"Last time I saw them they were in the bar, if they aren't there try the sparring ring in the cargo decks"

"Okay thanks Ed, I hope you two work whatever it is you are worried about out, bye" she said before leaving.

"How the fuck…"

"I don't know, maybe she's like Shayne"

"Dundra she's clearly not a Faunus"

"No I mean she can read people"

"Oh, that makes sense"

* * *

Jiang checked the bar but the barman said he hadn't seen them, so she made her way down to the lower decks. She was walking among the crates trying to find the supposed sparring arena when she was jumped from behind.

"Hey there little missy, this ain't a place for girls like you" a rough voice said as his arms wrapped around her throat.

Jiang struggled but it was useless.

Shayne and Lance turned a corner and saw the large male grab her, Shayne stopped Lance and dragged him behind a crate.

"Lance, we have to do this properly or she'll die, I'll go in first you get up high, we just want to get her out of there" Lance nodded, he was angry but he still listened to reason.

Shayne walked around the corner and coughed. The large man turned his head.

"I suggest you let her go"

"And what are you going to do about it" two more men appeared behind Shayne grinning evilly

"Me, I'm going to deal with these two and you're going to let her go"

"Yeah, you and what army"

"Who said I needed an army"

Shayne ducked under of the men's arms and punched him straight in the gut. Lance used the confusion he was generating to teleport behind the one holding Jiang. He was about to strike when Jiang did a back kick to the guys groin and flipped out of his grasp. She stumbled into Lance as she landed. Shayne was taking a beating as the guy slowly got to his feet.

"Lance, Jiang, run!"

Lance hesitated and thought about arguing but grabbed her hand and ran off between two of the crates. The largest guy took off after them.

Shayne was getting sick of this; he ducked a punch and kneed the guy in the elbow, breaking the arm at the joint before stepping up on his knee and kicking him in the face. He toppled like a ton of bricks. Shayne turned his attention to the remaining guy, who panicked and drew a long, vicious looking knife. Shayne stepped aside as he thrust forward and ducked the side slash that came after it. He wasn't expecting the follow up punch after it though, it struck him square in the face and he staggered backwards, the knife pierced his gut and he inhaled sharply.

Shayne grabbed the guy's wrist and snapped it in his hands, the bone broke the skin. He screamed until Shayne kneed him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Shayne took off as fast as he could to try and catch up to Lance and Jiang.

* * *

They were running out of breath so they hid around a dark corner. They could hear him coming closer. They held their breaths as he drew up to the corner.

"Hey asshole!" the man turned to face Shayne, the knife still stuck in his gut.

"Where'd your friends go kid, and I see my man did his job, I'm surprised that you're still breathing though"

"I don't know where they went but, ughn, attempted rape isn't gonna go down well with the authorities"

"Well, you worked me out then, you're a smart kid so I'm gonna make you a deal, turn around and forget this ever happened and I won't kill you"

"I'm smart enough to know that you couldn't kill me, so give it your best shot" Shayne spat blood and beckoned him closer.

The man rose to the challenge and walked towards Shayne.

"Jiang, stay here, I'm going to help Shayne" Lance whispered, Jiang reluctantly let go.

The guy had drawn a similar knife to the one in Shayne's gut and was tossing it between his hands as he advanced. Lance used what Shayne had told him and waited, the guy raised his arm to strike Shayne down and Lance leapt up and hauled it backwards, wrapping his legs around the shoulder. As they fell Shayne jumped up and stomped the guy's head into the ground, knocking him out.

Lance helped Shayne to where Jiang was.

"Shayne, you're hurt"

"No shit…ughn" Shayne pulled the blade from his gut and placed his left hand over the wound

"Shayne let us help you"

"No, I need to do this alone"

The Grimm leapt from his arm to his stomach and sealed the wound before their eyes. Shayne exhaled in relief as the pain subsided.

"Goddamn Shayne, that was impressive"

"Nothing to it really" Shayne looked at Jiang and smiled knowingly

"Am I missing something?"

"No it's just something I remembered; c'mon we're almost back at Vale"

Shayne hopped to his feet and waked away shortly followed by Jiang.

"What the fuck just happened?" Lance said to himself before walking after them.

* * *

Ralen was sat in his teams Cabin on the ship.

He looked over the strange Crystal he had been given earlier that day. Ralen's mind flashed back to the conversation.

* * *

_'Can you forge me something to carry this with, it's too big for my pockets'_

_'I don't think I can, it seems unstable'_

_'Don't worry about that, can you do it or not?'_

_'Yeah, I guess I could take a look, any particular place you want it mounting?'_

_A jacket was slung onto the table._

_'Can you make it so I can remove it and put it onto each of my jackets?"_

_'Um, that's more of a tailor's job'_

_'But I can't take this to a tailor as they wouldn't know where to start'_

_*sigh*'Fine ill see what I can do, leave the jacket'_

_'I'll be back later Ralen'_

_'Yeah…see you Shayne'_

* * *

Ralen tinkered with a small, metal contraption and did a rushed stitching job to see how it would sit on Shayne's jacket, he didn't want it to clash with the design, and Shayne had made that clear in a note inside the jacket.

He had just finished securing it when the door opened. Ralen turned his head and found Shayne standing right behind him.

"Jesus Christ Shayne, you damn near gave me a heart attack"

Shayne stepped back smiling.

"Sorry Ralen, so what've you got?"

"Hang on, what happened to you?" Ralen asked noticing the blood-stains on his shirt.

"Oh, just a small knife fight below decks, no biggie"

"Alright then" Ralen looked him in the eyes but Shayne just flashed red at him. "What I've got is this"

Ralen slung the jacket over Shayne's shoulders and turned him to a full length mirror. The small contraption held the Crystal in a vice like grip on Shayne right arm, just under the shoulder. Shayne leaned in closer for a better look, the Crystal pulsed with energy and the stitching gave way.

"Aw fuck"

"Don't worry, if you can just put it back on I can make sure it never comes off later, how many of these mounts have you got?"

"I have to make them by hand, so it's a one of a kind right now"

"Lucky I only have two jackets then huh" the pair shared a smile.

Shayne pocketed the crystal and handed the device to Ralen. A bell sounded signalling that they had arrived back at Vale.

The two teams reconvened on the top deck, Shayne had just decided to bin his shirt and just wear his jacket over his bare skin, it was spring anyway.

Kameron and Nelwyn were talking on the starboard side, and AGIS and SHDE stood on the port side trying to work out what they were talking about. Shayne and Lina were holding hands, but he had his eyes closed, he was ignoring the noise trying to hone in on them.

"Kam, what happened to you, you used to be so much fun?"

"I grew up Nelwyn, like your sister did"

"You both suck; you're both boring and serious now"

"I'm not boring though" he swished his tail.

"I've never worked out what Faunus you are" Kameron chuckled

"I'm a Komodo Faunus, long tail, sharp claws and teeth, and most obvious of all, my skin"

"I was never one for biology"

"Neither was I, Nel…?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you…"

The ships horn prevented Shayne form hearing what had been said, but he could see it quite clearly, Nelwyn and Kameron were locked in an embrace and they were kissing.

"Well, that's…interesting"

"Dundra shut up and grab some of Hanna's fucking bags" Dundra groaned at Eddi's words

"Shayne, we're here"

"I know Lina, come on, I need some sleep" he shouldered both their bags and followed Eddi and Dundra down the gangplank. AGIS and Hanna waited for Nelwyn and Kameron before following suit.

When they all reached the bottom they walked to the Bullhead depot to get to Beacon. Even though it was midday on a Monday there, there were almost no people on the streets, those that were there walked quickly as if in a hurry. Shayne was disturbed by this and slowed down to talk to Jiang.

"Does this seem as weird to you as it does to me"

"What, you mean the silence and the lack of people"

"Yeah, these streets are usually buzzing with people, whats going on"

"Well, there are a couple of people coming this way, lets ask them" Shayne gazed at where she was pointing, it was Vossler and Ashe. Shayne jogged up to them.

"Shayne, thank fuck your back, shit has been going down for the last 24 hours, first the White Fang kicked off at a protest in the park then some Grimm got in the town, nobody knows how and now there is some guy claiming to have put bombs in public places all over the city"

"Who says they've placed bombs"

"Roman, fucking, Torchwick"

Shayne's face hardened at his mention.

"Okay, you guys go back to Beacon, and get all the teams dealing with this to fall back, we've got this"

"But Shayne…"

"No Ashe, I know you're not part of my team but I know you'll do as I say, now go"

"Shayne what's going on?"

He turned to AGIS.

"Roman Torchwick is causing a stir with bomb threats, im gonna call him out on it and yo guys are gonna find the bombs and deal with them"

"Shayne, Roman is an asshole, but he's tricky, you'll need some support" Jiang said having heard rumors, Ralen and Lance both stepped forward.

"Lance you'll be better with me, anyway Ralen, if you find one I need you to get rid of it" he nodded

"Shayne, be careful, you know that the White Fang are gonna be crawling all over the place"

"Before we go Shayne, Frank Lance and Velvet are out here somewhere"

"Fuck! Well before you go back find them and take them with you" Vossler nodded and the teams broke apart, all staying in radio contact.

* * *

Shayne and Lance walked to the marketplace. Shayne set his Scroll to broadcast and typed a message.

'Well, I'm here Roman, where the fuck are you'

"Now what?" Lance asked

"Now, we wait"

They didn't have to wait long before a Bullhead glided to a hover above the market. White Fang dropped down on ropes before it landed, Shayne was hoping his bluff had worked and he had an ace up his sleeve.

The bullhead landed softly and Roman walked down the ramp.

"Well, Shayne, I believe you've already met my associate" Shayne felt breathing on his neck and dove forward evading an axe that would have cleaved him in half. Shayne turned and glared at the man.

"You...!"

**Drop me a PM if you have any questions. if you haven't already done so, check out GuyFromPandora's story, Remnants shield, he could use some support so leave him a review or something. anyway you guys are great and as always thanks for reading.**

**-TheWolfbane987**


	12. Chapter 12

Lance turned to face the male who now stood where Shayne had been not moments before. His face was covered in a strange splodged pattern, no matter how hard he tried to make sense of it; it never seemed to be the same thing upon another glance, as if it was alive.

"Cross, you mother-fucker, you killed my mom and her kids"

"So you did see my calling card, I was worried it would be too difficult to find"

"Shayne, we have business to attend to-"

"Shut the fuck up right now!" Blaine erupted from the ground at Shayne's feet and snarled at Roman.

"Okay, I'll just be leaving then…"

"No you won't" Lance span, drawing his rifle and disabling the Bullheads engines with two dead on shots.

"Shayne, you may not remember me, but I want what's mine back" Shayne's arm burned as Cross held his arm aloft.

Shayne dropped to his knees and Nemea landed in the square. He roared, Cross stumbling backwards, Lance utilised the confusion the Grimm had caused and teleported to Roman.

"Where are the bombs Roman" Lance held his blade to Romans throat.

"Calm down kid, I'd have told you for the asking, I don't want to see this town burn any more than you do"

"So why set the fucking things"

"I profit on misery…" Lance punched him in the face.

"Just tell me where they are"

"Okay, okay, bring up a map then…" Lance kept the blade at Romans throat while he pointed out the locations.

Shayne glared at Cross, he stood up slowly as Blaine circled around behind Cross. Shayne sprinted at him drawing one of his katana and his pistol at the same time. They collided and Cross slid backwards, drawing his axe as he came to a stop. Shayne advanced slowly flourishing his sword as he came. The clashed sparks flying off the metal as they attacked in an almost mirrored fashion, ducking and swiping always finding nothing but air.

Roman left, Lance had no qualms with him and Shayne needed help. He tried to line up a shot but the White Fang closed in on him.

'Ah shit, I forgot about these guys' Lance switched his rifle into its SMG stage and held his blade in hand.

A bolt struck on of the White Fang in the chest, piercing his lung and he dropped to his knees. Ralen dropped down next to Lance.

"I thought you could use a hand" Ralen said switching his weapon to its sword form.

The pair looked around at the Faunus that surrounded them.

"I don't think this is fair. do you Lance?" Lance cocked his gun in response.

The White fang rushed them.

* * *

Shayne took a kick to the chest and slid backwards. He drew his pistol and took aim; Cross strode towards Shayne, the markings on his face shifting with each step. Shayne fired once, the bullet left a trail as it sped across the gap between them, it pierced the right side Cross's chest, it lodged in a rib and detonated, leaving a three inch hole in his chest. Cross staggered backwards, and looked down at the wound.

Cross grimaced, stowed his axe and walked away.

Shayne was about to follow suit but Lance and Ralen danced in front of him avoiding the attacks of the White Fang members; Shayne lost sight of him and turned to the masked Faunus enraged. Lance and Ralen stepped back as Shayne squared up to them.

"Shayne calm down, we got the bombs we can just leave" Lance put his hand on Shayne shoulder, Shayne turned his head and his eyes flashed red and it was removed.

"You have three seconds to turn around and walk away or you will be dead in the next ten" Shayne said turning back to the fifteen remaining Faunus.

Some took his advice and turned and quickly left the area, five didn't.

Shayne cracked his knuckles and started forward. Ralen and Lance looked on as Shayne dealt with them.

He ducked swords and dodged bullets, punching and kicking them all the while. A volley of shots came from to two using guns, Shayne dragged another into the path, bullets rippled on his torso, he fell to the ground dead. Shayne ran at the two with guns as they reloaded, he snapped the neck of one and kicked the other one in the knee, snapping it and making him cry out in pain.

Lance strode forward to try and calm Shayne, Ralen readied his crossbow.

Shayne turned as two of the remaining Faunus attacked him, he caught the blades, and ran one of them through before head-butting the other. He kicked the one with the rifle in the head, a sickening snap was clearly audible. The last Faunus scrabbled backwards away from Shayne as he bore down on him.

"P-please d-don't k-kill me!"

Lance grabbed Shayne and hip tossed him away.

"Shayne that's enough, calm down now!" Shayne stood up and resumed his advance, Lance stepped in the way and Shayne drew his knife.

"Stand down Lance, don't make me hurt you"

"No Shayne, you stand down"

Shayne stumbled forward as a crossbow bolt hit him in the back, just below the shoulder. He turned and looked at Ralen who brought up his crossbow by his head. Shayne felt his eyes becoming heavy and collapsed onto the floor; Lance was too slow to catch him before his face smacked against the ground.

"Some warning next time would be nice"

"Sorry"

"Well because of that you can carry him back to Beacon" Ralen strode over and Lance helped him get Shayne onto his shoulders.

* * *

Lance and Ralen arrived at SHDE's dorm at around 3-ish, it had taken longer than expected to get back, as when they got to the Bullhead depot, they had just missed the last Bullhead and had to wait an hour for the next one.

"How have we not spent this much time with these guys before?" "

What do you mean Ralen?"

"Their dorm is opposite ours and we've never really hung out or even spoke"

"Well, we have very few classes in common so we haven't socialised before"

"Just knock on the door would you"

Lance knocked and Lina answered the door.

"Oh god, what happened to him Lance" she said looking at Shayne still slung over Ralen's shoulder.

"We had to knock him out to keep him from…"

*cough* "I'm still carrying him you know, can we come in so I can put him down and get the bolt from his back"

"Sure come on in, you can put him on our bed" she walked over to the bed they shared and cleared her books and papers off it for them.

Dundra, Eddi, Vossler and Ashe all stood up and wandered over to them. Ralen put Shayne face down on the bed and took Shayne's knife from his thigh; he proceeded to dig his arrow from Shayne's back.

"His jacket is ruined, he's not going to thank you when he wakes up" Dundra said, knowing how much Shayne cared about his jacket.

"As long as I'm not dead tomorrow I'll count today as a success" Ralen joked as he pulled the bolt free, and healed Shayne's wound.

"So, what now?"

"In a few hours he'll wake up with a headache and very little recollection that he was ever shot"

"I wouldn't count on that" Ashe said straightening up

"Why not?"

"Because he's awake" Ralen's face dropped Shayne flipped off the bed and faced Ralen. He held out his hand and Ralen gave him back his knife.

"Why did you shoot me?" "

You were out of control Shayne, we had no choice" Lance said pushing Ralen slightly further away from Shayne.

"Shayne, I thought you'd got your curse under control?" Vossler asked fingering his sword.

"Well this Cross guy was there" he turned to Eddi; "He's the guy who killed my mom" Eddi nodded sullenly.

"So you lost control and went berserk on him"

"Not just him, there were some White Fang guys there too" Ralen said, Lina glared at him.

Dundra and Eddi looked at each other, Lina lunged at Ralen but Eddi caught her and pushed her to Dundra who held her securely.

"Why didn't you put him out sooner, how many did he kill?"

"Four, the others left after he squared up to them"

"To be fair we did kill fifteen ourselves in self-defense"

"Shut up Ralen"

"Well, at least you two actually stopped me" they nodded.

"For which I'm thankful, we don't want you getting arrested" Lina said kissing him gently.

Dundra coughed and she snapped back to reality, she blushed slightly and looked at the floor. The others looked around not knowing what to do, and then Hanna walked in the door with Silver.

"Oh, what are you all doing here, I thought you'd be out or something" she gave Dundra a look and he shrugged.

"Silver, what's going on?" Lance asked, neither of them looked like they wanted to talk.

"No Hanna, we just got back from dealing with Roman"

"Oh right, I forgot about that, how'd that go?"

"So you didn't help the others?"

"Uhh…no not as such"

"We got all the bombs anyway so it's all good, no harm done" Eddi said trying to disarm the situation.

Jiang was feeling lonely, she hadn't seen her friends since earlier that day, so she decided to go see what SHDE were doing. She knocked on the door and was surprised when Silver answered the door.

"Silver?"

"Hey Jiang, what's up?"

"I was wondering where my team is" she saw Lance and Ralen inside, "and none of you thought to tell me you were okay or back"

"I'm sorry Jiang, I was busy with explaining what had happened to SHDE" Lance walked up to her and stood close to her, she bowed her head and blushed.

"I-it's okay L-Lance" Everyone but Shayne, Silver and Lina had no clue what was going on.

"So, time for dinner I think, come on let's get going" Dundra said ushering people out the door.

Lance and Jiang stood by the door, Lance was still very close to Jiang, Shayne and Lina walked over.

"Hey, I'm not telling anyone and neither is Lina" Jiang nodded at the statement

"Am I missing something?"

"Well she likes you and you clearly like her so it's up to you what you do with that, but for now it's time for dinner" Lina said resting her hand on her hip.

Lance nodded and left, Jiang followed right after him. Lina closed the door quietly.

"Lina, they're expecting us downstairs"

"So, I don't care, I just want to talk I swear" Lina said pushing against him before kissing him and taking off his bandanna.

She walked over to the bed, sat down and patted the space beside her. Shayne sighed and smiled, it had been a while. He took off his damaged jacket and slung it over a chair and strode over to her. Her kissed her and guided her down to the bed.

* * *

Shayne and Lina eventually went down to dinner, when they got there they found themselves in an all too familiar situation, Cardin was starting shit again. He was picking on Velvet again but Silver and Blake were staying out of it as usual. Shayne sat down next to Silver and opposite Blake.

"What's got him so worked up?"

"I don't think anything; I think he's just doing it to make a point"

"Where's Frank?" Lina asked noticing that he wasn't there.

"Dunno, I think Oobleck wanted to see him for something" Nelwyn said, not even looking up from her Scroll.

"We should do something, Shayne what if…"

"I can't do anything to him; I'm on probation from last time still"

They looked around in desperation for anyone who could help. Then Frank walked in. He saw what Cardin was doing and his face contorted into one of rage. He bore down on Cardin stopping just behind him.

"This however, I can deal with" Shayne hopped over the table, Blake leaned to the left to let him pass.

Cardin turned and his face dropped as he saw fury in Frank's eyes.

"O-okay, calm down Frankie this isn't what it looks like…"

"It looks like you're tormenting my girlfriend Cardin" Shayne stood just behind Frank, looking determined but not angry.

Frank pressed forward and Cardin let go of Velvet, she ran to Shayne and he sat her down with Blake. Frank stretched his neck and cracked his knuckles. Shayne walked over and stood between them.

"Frank, this isn't the time or the place, now sit down"

"So it's okay if you take revenge for your girlfriend but I can't for mine"

"I didn't say not to just not here, later" Shayne looked him in the eye and Frank knew what he meant.

"Hmph, getting him to fight your battles for you Frankie, that's just sad" Cardin said smugly, Shayne's head dropped and stood aside.

Cardin's face dropped as Frank started forward again. Cardin panicked and ran. He bolted out the door and Frank ran after him. Shayne sat down again, and the room calmed down again.

"Well that handles that then"

"I hope he doesn't do what I almost did a while ago" Lina looked down.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing Silver, let's just drop this" Blake said, knowing that neither Shayne nor Lina liked talking about it.

* * *

Several hours later Shayne caught up with Frank at his dorm.

"So you didn't kill him then"

"No I just beat him up a bit; hopefully he'll get the message now"

"I wouldn't count on it but we can hope"Shayne stood up and left.

Frank took off the bindings that covered his hand; he looked at his cut knuckles and flexed his hand. He shook his head, he had left Cardin in his dorm battered and broken, and he hated himself for it, for all he had done to Velvet in the past, he was still Frank's first proper friend.

**Drop me a PM if you have any questions. if you haven't already done so, check out GuyFromPandora's story, Remnants shield, he could use some support so leave him a review or something. anyway you guys are great and as always thanks for reading.**

**-TheWolfbane987**


	13. Chapter 13

The days following SHDES return from Mistral were tense; something was hanging in the air but nobody quite knew what it was. SHDE FLLN and AGIS had become close and were used to hanging out in SHDE's dorm room, much to Dundra's dismay, he liked things not to be disturbed and Silver liked touching things and she always seemed to make a mess, Hanna laughed it off but he cringed all the time, but he'd never say anything about it.

But tensions came to a head about a week after the incident with Frank and Cardin. Hanna and Silver were sat in SHDE's dorm when there was a knock on the door. Hanna got up and answered it.

"Yang!"

"Hey Hanna, I just got back from a trip and I missed you, so..." Yang took her head in her hands and kissed her.

"This isn't a good time" as she pushed Yang off of her.

"Hanna, come back I'm cold" Yang looked confused and pushed past Hanna.

"Who the hell are you?" Silver and Yang said in unison.

Hanna was speechless, she hadn't meant for this to happen.

"I'm her girlfriend" Silver said

"No, I'm her girlfriend"

"Please stop fighting…" Hanna said thoroughly embarrassed.

"So which is it Hanna, me or her" Yang said angrily

"Yang, why didn't you tell me you were going on a trip, I hadn't heard from you for almost a week before I went to Mistral, I thought you'd left me for someone else"

"Hanna I…"

"Save it, Yang we were having problems anyway, so I'm sorry, I'm with Silver now" the Faunus girl looked smug and purred slightly from the bed.

Yang turned fiery and faced Silver.

"You…bitch…." Silver got to her feet slowly.

Yang activated her gauntlets and Shayne strode into the room passing Hanna and grabbing Yang's arm. He spun her into a chair and Hanna jogged over to Silver.

"Yang, that's enough, calm down" he turned to Hanna, "go get Ruby, ill calm her down"

"Okay"

"What about me? She was angry at me not Hanna"

"Yang, Hanna didn't know where you were or what you were doing, so she broke it off, you can be angry all you want but you can't be angry at her over something you caused"

"But Shayne…" Yang protested and tried to stand up

"I said calm down, now when your sister gets here, you're going to leave"

"Shayne?"

"Yes Silver"

"Let me talk to her"

Shayne stood back and Silver knelt down in front of Yang.

"Yang, I don't know what's going on with you but I know that Hanna still feels for you, she has tried moving on but she won't be able to until you get over her yourself"

Yang leaned in close to silver and whispered in her ear.

"You hurt her and I will come for you" Shayne looked at her as he had heard it as well.

Ruby and Hanna arrived and Yang left, Hanna went over to Silver.

"Are you okay? She didn't hurt you did she"

"No Hanna I'm fine" she looked at Shayne who was busying himself making coffee.

Then Dundra fell through the ceiling.

* * *

Dundra had been on the roof looking out over Vale, he was trying to work out why Shayne did this so often. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds that reached him, car horns and sounds from the dorms mostly, though there was something else, it wasn't loud but it was there. He opened his eyes and looked up.

A black shape was visible in the sky, part of it fell away and it seemed to be falling directly at him. He watched it fall all while trying to work out what it was. Then it struck him the dark shape was a Nevermore, that only meant that the dark shape falling towards him could be one of two things, it was either a feather missile or it was another Grimm. Dundra didn't have time to figure out which as it hit him square in the chest, smashing him through the roof and into SHDE's dorm.

* * *

Dundra was on the floor and there was an Ursa tearing around the room. Hanna and Sliver were trying to stop it but it was hopeless, it was confused and angry. Shayne helped Dundra up and was tackled through the wall.

Eddi and the twins walked in and saw the hole and were immediately confused.

"An Ursa fell from the sky, knocked me through the roof and tackled Shayne through the wall"

"Hang on, how did it fall from the sky?"

"From what I could tell it was riding a Nevermore" this only caused more confusion.

"Let's not get into this now, and help Shayne shall we"

They nodded and ran through the hole in the wall, the Ursa had shrugged Shayne off in the next room but it had continued through two more walls. Dundra helped Shayne up and a scream was heard from the courtyard. Eddi and Ashe looked out the window. Beowolves were swarming the grounds. Dundra Shayne and Vossler went to deal with the Ursa while the girls headed outside.

The rest of AGIS was already out there and trying to stem the flow of Beowolves coming up the cliffs. RWBY and JNPR were handling the Deathstalkers and the other students were busy either running to get their gear or were already fighting.

Shayne got the bears attention and let it charge him, Dundra and Vossler jumped onto its back, planting their swords in its hide, as it came ever closer to Shayne, he pulled out his pistol and fired a single shot, the bullet went through its eye and detonated in the beasts brain. It slid to Shayne's feet and Dundra and Vossler retrieved their weapons from it.

They exited the building to find chaos.

Students were fighting for their lives against several Grimm at once, the trio divided to help those in most desperate of need. Shayne quickly found Lina she was trying to free a girl who had an Ursa dead on top of her.

"Lina! You're okay"

"Shayne, good you're here, can you give me a hand"

Shayne hefted the bear off of the girl long enough for Lina to pull her free. She ran off into the dorms.

"Shayne, what's going on, why are the Grimm attacking Beacon?"

"I don't know but I think I know someone who might" he said catching sight of a man on a rooftop looking over the battle.

"Shayne who is that?"

"He's the guy who killed my mom, he has Grimm in him as well" Lina nodded and went to help Hanna and Silver.

Shayne climbed the stairs to the roof to face him. He arrived and he turned to face Shayne.

"Shayne, I told you I want what's mine"

"How are you not dead?"

"I'm very tough to kill" the Grimm writhed under his skin.

"Why are the Grimm attacking?"

"Because I told them to…"

"So you know what you're doing with the Grimm then"

"I've been alive a long time Shayne, I know more about the Grimm than you will ever know" Blaine appeared at Shayne's side.

"I know enough to know that controlling them will only lead to death"

Shayne felt something brush past him.

"Cross, you screwed me, you said that I could kill him and you knew full well that he was too good for me"

"Aah Kameron, I see you're still alive, Shayne's Grimm must have not taken hold yet"

"Oh its taken hold Cross" Shayne's eyes flared red and he started to smoke, his hair and skin turned black as night, "I've embraced the darkness, time for you to die"

Shayne ran at him, Blaine ran alongside as did Kameron. They collided and Shayne tackled him off the building. Kameron jumped off and landed in a roll nearby.

Lance teleported over.

"Shayne, what the fuck is…" he was cut short when he looked at Shayne.

Shayne's eyes were locked on Cross. He started forward and Cross leapt to his feet.

Shayne hurled his tomahawk at Cross and ran after it. Cross caught the small axe as Shayne tackled him and proceeded to punch him in the face repeatedly, Cross just smiled madly at him. Kameron and Lance were dealing with other Grimm.

"Ralen, I think it's time you tested that new arrow you've been working on!" Ralen nodded and climbed up a tree so he could see what was happening better.

Shayne had taken out his knife after being thrown off of Cross and was advancing on him again. Cross swung at him and he ducked and planted his knife firmly in his chest. Cross staggered back looking at the knife that now protruded from his chest, he felt it had pierced his heart and dropped to his knees.

"Call off the Grimm, now" Shayne said standing over him.

Cross didn't want to die, he had seen his death and this wasn't it, so he closed his eyes and the Grimm retreated. The students crowded around Shayne as he pulled the knife from Cross's chest.

"Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now" Shayne said grabbing cross by the collar.

"I know the source of how you got your power" Shayne studied his eyes carefully.

"I'm going to let you keep breathing for now" he let him go and turned to the crowd, "I suggest you all go about clearing up the mess and tending to the wounded"

The students dispersed and Shayne beckoned Dundra over.

"Help me get him back to the dorm" Shayne and Dundra each took an arm and man-handled him back to the dorm, where Vossler and Ralen were already working on mending the walls.

They sat him in a sturdy chair and secured him there. Shayne sat opposite while Dundra went to help the others. Shayne sat looking at Cross for a long time, and Cross looked back.

"So, what is the source" Cross smiled

"For me to tell you that, I need to tell you my story…"

* * *

_'I was 18, coming up on my 19th birthday and I was walking through a dense forest area in Vacuo. It was late and I should have been going home, but something was drawing me deeper into the forest. I caught sight of Grimm moving through the undergrowth and drew my axe. _

_I could hear voices, to this day I'm unsure on if they were in my head or actual voices, but I followed them to the place where they should have been coming from, yet I found nothing but a small stone shrine, carved into a rock face._

_The voices whispered dark things to me, evil, malicious things that couldn't be true. They told me I could prevent them from happening, they told me I could make it all stop. All I had to do was kneel at the shrine and I would be more powerful than anyone else in the world._

_The temptation of that kind of power is too great for any man, so I did what most would and knelt before the altar, resting my hands on the table. I closed my eyes and let the voices wash over me, my skin crawled and my hair stood on end. I snuck a look at what was happening and I saw the Grimm burrowing under my skin, I felt it moving, making its way to my face._

_I screamed out in pain, but I couldn't move my hands, the flow of Grimm was keeping them there. I eventually blacked out from the pain. The next morning I woke up in a motel room, the walls were splattered with blood; I didn't know whose and I didn't want to find out, I went to the window and saw that I was covered in blood from head to toe, it was then that I saw that in the bathroom was the corpse of a young girl, 16 at most. I felt like throwing up, I left through the window and I've been on the run ever since.'_

"Now I'll explain where you fit in" Dundra and Ralen had wandered over by this point and were listening as intently as Shayne.

_'Four years later I found myself in Managerie, I was hiding out in a small cave in the mountains. I had found out that I lose control at night and had gotten into a routine where I only slept during the day, but I hadn't been able to sleep for the last couple of days and I knew that it would happen sooner or later. When it did, I had no idea the kind of fallout that would follow it. I woke up back where I started and I felt different than the previous day. I scouted around and overheard conversations, they all mentioned a humanoid Grimm tearing the town apart, but I usually remembered when I had caused chaos, so I sat and thought._

_I realised that my left arm was normal again, not stained dark as the rest of my body. I set out to find out who had the Grimm. I stood lurking in the shadows of the square, watching, waiting, then you turned up, I saw that you had a bandaged left arm and I followed you home. My Grimm must have granted yours its full potential, I knew that I needed to get it back, no matter how much I feared the Grimm, I didn't doubt that it made me powerful and I wanted that power back._

_I tried to get it back that night but the cops came and I had to leave, by the time I made it back to Managerie, you were gone, the Grimm with you.'_

* * *

"So you set about finding me, using the criminal underworld as a medium"

"No, I became a criminal as a by-product of looking for you"

"So what do we do with you now?"

"You could let me go, but then I'd just keep trying to kill you"

"So, not an option" Ralen said, making sense of the situation.

"But we can't keep you here, so I'm giving you a chance, you're going to leave and if I see you again, I will kill you"

Shayne cut the bonds, Dundra and Ralen looked around nervously.

"By not killing me now you've made a mistake"

"Just go" Shayne said his hand resting on his pistol.

Cross left through the window, dropping straight into the Emerald Forest. They all sighed in relief. The girls returned and Lina immediately ran up to Shayne and hugged him tightly. Silver and Hanna walked hand in hand to Hanna's bed and reclined on it, Eddi, did what she always did and cleaned her guns.

Shayne gazed out of the window.

'I know he's coming back, I will be ready for him when he does'

**The speed at which ive put these chapters up is not going to continue as im only catching up to where i had previously posted.**

**Drop me a PM if you have any questions. if you haven't already done so, check out GuyFromPandora's story, Remnants shield, he could use some support so leave him a review or something. anyway you guys are great and as always thanks for reading.**

**-TheWolfbane987**


	14. Chapter 14

The days following the Grimm attacks on Beacon were used in making repairs to the damaged buildings and recovering from any injuries. Ozpin had requested that SHDE and AGIS meet him in his office, the window had been broken by a stray Nevermore feather and it was still lodged in his desk.

The two teams waited outside Ozpin's office. Shayne didn't like waiting and was getting irritated; he decided to go in anyway.

"Aah Shayne, I was wondering where you were"

"I was waiting outside" he gestured towards the door

"That's unlike you, you normally just walk in"

"I think Cross got to me, I haven't been able to think straight since the attack"

"Well never mind that right now, fetch the others in would you" Shayne nodded and opened the door, AGIS and the rest of his team walked in.

"Professor, you asked to see us?"

"Yes I did, now as you know the recent attack on Beacon has revealed several weak areas in our Grimm counter measures. Shayne, as the most in tune with the Grimm, you will oversee the project, this will not interfere with your classes. As for the rest of you, you will need to be on hand as a first line of defence in case, Cross is it?" Shayne nodded, "Sends the Grimm back, now, off to class"

Ozpin waved them out.

"Oh, Shayne, Jiang, could you both stay behind for a moment, I need a word" Shayne sent his team back to the dorm, he whispered something to Dundra and he nodded before leaving. Jiang nodded to Lance who then left with the others.

"Yes Professor, what is it you needed?"

"I've kept you two back as I need some people to run an OP for me"

"Why aren't our teams here for this?" Shayne said relaxing on the sofa and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"This is a sensitive matter and I don't want it getting out until it's ready" Ozpin said pushing Shayne's feet off the table.

"What's the OP?" Shayne said as Jiang walked over to where Ozpin was.

"I want some more information on this Cross person, I want to know how he operates and I want to know if there is any way we can prevent another Grimm attack"

"and how do you propose we go about finding this out?" Jiang said putting down the papers she had been handed.

"I have several people that have arranged to meet with you and im sure your teammates will have others that they can contact Shayne"

"I know they do, what's the price for the information that your contacts have?"

"I didn't think this would come up so soon but its 5'000 Lien per contact"

"But won't that cut into the schools budget?"

"Jiang, we can spare 20'000 Lien so don't worry" Ozpin said, Shayne wasn't so sure.

"Ozpin, how about I make this really simple, you let me worry about paying the contacts, im owed some favours anyway"

"Shayne these guys won't take no for an answer"

"Then its lucky were hunters" Shayne said standing up.

"Professor, what about the other teams?"

"They are not to know, this needs to be small as we don't want any unnecessary attention"

"Why don't we want any attention?"

"Because Jiang, none of this is going to be legal" Shayne said as Ozpin showed them the door.

* * *

The remaining members of SHDE and AGIS went back to SHDE's dorm room.

"So what do you think they're talking about?" Hanna asked walking backwards

"I don't know, but whatever it is they'll tell us when either Ozpin says they can or they feel comfortable to" Dundra said without turning around.

They arrived at the dorm and entered to find the twins arguing.

"Ashe, you know if you tell him it'll only complicate thi-"Ashe had gone silent, Vossler turned and saw the others.

"Anything you want to tell us guys?" Eddi asked, cocking her head slightly

Vossler looked at Ashe and he skulked away out the door. Ashe stood nervously at one end of the room. They dropped the subject, all except Silver, who went and sat beside Ashe.

"So, what were you two arguing about?" She whispered

"I don't want to talk about it"

"C'mon I won't tell anyone" Silver rested her hand on Ashe's shoulder.

*sigh*"Fine, I'm in love with Sun"

Sliver blinked twice in astonishment.

"Well does he know?"

"No of course not, I haven't had the chance to talk to him about it" Silver was thoughtful for a few moments.

"Why don't I talk to him for you?"

"What! Why would you do that?"

"Because I can see it in your eyes that you're telling the truth, and I think it'd be fun" she said smiling broadly.

Ashe smiled as Shayne and Jiang walked in. everyone looked at them, making Jiang slightly uncomfortable. Shayne walked over to Eddi and Dundra.

"We need to go dark, you know what to do" SHDE was used to this, it had happened before.

Dundra pulled the curtains closed and fixed shutters in place, the lights turned on automatically. Eddi opened her scroll and activated a scrambler.

"We're good Shayne" he nodded and turned to Ashe.

"Ashe could you give us a minute or two" she nodded and left quickly.

"Uh Shayne, what's going on?" Ralen asked

Dundra secured the door and gave Shayne a thumbs up.

"Ozpin's got a job for us; the reason for the lockdown is that it isn't to leave this room"

"That still doesn't explain anything"

"Ralen just let him talk" Lance said reclining on the sofa.

"Ozpin wants some information and he needs us to get it"

"Why does he need us, we're just kids"

"Well the rest of us are, Shayne isn't"

"Oh right, you're almost twenty, how are you here then?"

"That isn't the point, me and Jiang are going to be heading this, Eddi, you and Ralen need to co-ordinate the technological aspects, Lance and Dundra, you're going to be the muscle should the need arise and Silver, Hanna, you two are going to be our infiltrators as from what I read in the files Jiang and I we're shown we're going to have to break into a storage facility"

"Everybody got that?" Jiang asked, almost coldly.

They all nodded and Shayne handed Eddi his Scroll for her to get the files from. The others brought the room out of lockdown and returned to normal. Shayne went back to adjusting the tension in his gauntlets and the others did homework or just hung out.

Lina arrived half an hour later, AGIS had left and the twins had come back but were ignoring each other. She put her hands over his eyes and he smiled.

"Guess who…"

"I don't have to guess you know that" he span on his stool taking her off of her feet, she laughed as he looked her in the eyes.

*Ahem* Eddi faked a cough and they looked at her.

"Sorry guys, Lina I need to talk to you anyway" Shayne stood up and walked to the roof.

* * *

They stood looking out over Vale for a while before Shayne spoke again.

"Lina I've been meaning to talk to you since Mistral and I haven't had the chance to"

"Shayne, what is it?"

"Lina…"

"Shayne, we have some unfinished business" Shayne rolled his eyes and turned to Kameron.

"For god's sake Kameron, I thought you'd dropped this"

"Then you thought wrong, I still hate you for what you did and I still want you to pay" Shayne let go of Lina's hand and she ran inside.

"Kameron, I'm giving you the chance to walk away"

"I'm not walking away until you're dead" he drew his Falchion as Dundra, Eddi, Lina, and strangely Blake, all walked onto the roof.

"Guys, this is between me and him" Shayne drew one of his Katanas, it glinted in the moonlight.

They crossed the distance in two strides. Shayne hit him once in the face with his fist, before kicking him in the chest, Kameron went sprawling backwards. Shayne let him get back to his feet. Kameron rushed Shayne swinging wildly, Shayne parried most of the attacks but a couple got through leaving large gashes in his jacket and shirt, one even drew blood.

Shayne parried a thrust and sent the blade flying from Kameron's grasp, Kameron had been expecting this, and as Shayne let his guard open he jumped on him, his wrist blade firing out. He brought his arm down rapidly, aiming to stab Shayne in the eye, Shayne saw this coming and grabbed his arm and flipped him off of him, straight into the others. He collided with all four of them, Eddi, Dundra and Blake all fell backwards onto some ventilations ducts, Lina and Kameron both fell over the edge, they were both clinging onto the side of the building by their fingertips.

"Lina!" Shayne ran over to the edge of the building and slid off the edge, grabbing hold of the roof and reaching for her.

"Shayne, help me!" she screamed back at him.

Dundra and Eddi, being the good people they were, were trying to help Kameron not to fall to his death. Blake had secured Shayne's arm using Gambol Shroud, once she gave him the signal he let go of the roof and dropped to Lina, he wrapped her in his arms before letting her climb onto his back. He shouted up to Blake and Dundra. They began to haul them up the side of the building. Eddi had Kameron at gun point, she was watching him closely, ensuring that he wouldn't move.

Once Shayne and Lina reached the edge of the roof, Dundra helped Lina safely up and walked her back to the door. Shayne hauled himself up and untied the ribbon from his wrist before walking over to Kameron.

"Do you know why I'm not going to kill you Kameron" he shook his head

"Because I just think you're misguided and need help, Eddi, let him go" she holstered her pistol and walked over to Lina.

Shayne turned to do the same, then Kameron struck, he sprinted forward and stabbed Shayne in the lower back, he triggered a small mechanism and a searing pain shot across Shayne's body and he dropped to his knees, writhing in pain. Dundra tackled Kameron seconds after the last of the poison entered Shayne's blood stream, Dundra wrestled him to the ground and held him there.

"Shayne!" Lina ran over to him and knelt down, resting his head on her lap.

"Well, shit….tonight could've gone better….." Lina was crying, she could tell he was dying, his face had turned pale.

Eddi turned Shayne on his side and inspected the small wound on his back, it was red and inflamed, she tried touching it but a small amount of liquid came into contact with her skin, it burned like acid and she recoiled in pain.

"What did you put on that blade?"

"Homebrew venom, I mix it myself" Dundra punched him as a smile spread across his face.

"So there's no antidote?" Blake sighed, Kameron shifted uneasily.

"Well if I'm going to die I might as well say what I wanted to before all this"

"Shayne…"

"Lina….will you marry me?" Shayne pulled a small red velvet box from his jacket pocket, It was a little beat up from friction and blades.

Lina opened it and Shayne crawled over to Kameron.

"You wanted to make me pay, looks like you got what you wanted" Shayne felt his blood course to his left hand, he felt sweaty so he removed his gauntlet and wiped his hand on the concrete. The blood fizzed and he felt the pain dissipate.

Kameron was visibly struggling against Dundra; Shayne stood up and showed him his hand.

"Looks like your plan B failed, the Grimm doesn't want me dead" Lina was still knelt on the floor looking at the ring.

Shayne picked her up off the floor and carried her inside; she clutched his lapels and buried her head in his chest. She didn't let go of him all night.

* * *

"Thanks for meeting me, Blake said you're waiting on some information before you decide what you're going to do"

"Well, I could always go home but there's nothing left for me there, so I'm going to stay and keep an eye on her, so what do you want from me kitty?"

"I'm a tiger, and I'm here on behalf of someone else" a slight click echoed around the room.

"So what do they want?"

Silver handed him her Scroll and he studied the images and text.

"So, who's she?"

"Her name is Ashe Genesis, she has seen you around town and she 'likes' you"

"Really? And what makes you think that I'm interested in her"

"Because she's like me, though her Faunus heritage has been somewhat…questionable, she's definitely a tiger"

*Sigh*"So when do I meet her?"

"I can set up something for this weekend" Silver removed her pistol from his head.

"Fine, and thanks for not pulling the trigger"

"Next time, don't call me sweetheart, kitty or slap me on the ass" she walked away and he fixed his collar.


	15. Chapter 15

**And I'm back, sorry for being gone so long but shit gets on top of you, you know. but the important thing is im back in business and i have some new chapters for you all to enjoy. also if you could possibly leave a review id really appreciate it, as itll help me know if you enjoyed it enough for me to keep writing or not.**

* * *

The morning after Kameron tried to kill Shayne again, tensions were high as Lina was still not talking, which worried everyone as she was normally willing to talk with anyone. Shayne had sat up with her all night, mostly because she didn't let go of him at all. When she eventually fell asleep Shayne carried her to the bed and laid her on it. He knew that they should have been in class but he knew that as soon as she woke up she would want him nearby.

At around midday she woke up. Lina sat up and looked around the room, in a slight panic, Shayne was beside her in an instant. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"So, are you gonna answer me or what?" she looked at him confused, then she spotted the small box on the table next to him.

"I-I don't know what to say…"

"Well just say yes then, we don't have to rush it" she smiled and kissed him.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything"

The both turned to face Ozpin.

"Oh, professor I didn't hear you come in"

"Yes…anyway, I know about last night, and I'm here to tell you that I don't condone this but I see that I can't do anything about it, so I'll make you a deal, you keep this under wraps until you graduate or ill expel you both"

"But, Professor that's not…"

"Fair? I know but this is a place of education and I must uphold that, although, on a personal level, congratulations, now, Shayne I hope you don't disappoint tomorrow" Ozpin walked out.

"What did he mean by he hopes you don't disappoint tomorrow?"

"Nothing, now I know he said to keep quiet about this but since Eddi and Dundra know that I asked you, we can tell them surely"

Lina just smiled and kissed him again.

* * *

The others trained all day; they ignored all attempts to contact them except from their teammates or the other team. Ralen called them all together at around 10.

"Ralen, what are we doing here, we're tired and the OP is in 2 days, we need our sleep" Hanna complained, yawning.

"I was going over the plans for the storage facility and something didn't make sense, so I went and did some recon, they've got a 35 foot wall surrounding the building now" everyone perked up, this had completely eradicated their plan of just getting in through a window.

"so what do we do now?" Silver asked, she had liked the old plan.

"I've been working on something all day to get around it" he picked up a backpack and tossed it to Shayne.

"What do I do with this?"

"Put it on stupid" Shayne scowled at Silver who just smirked at him.

Shayne slung it over his shoulders and Ralen secured the straps and handed him a button.

"And this is for what?"

"Shayne, I want you to jump off the cliff, count to three and push the button"

"Okay, I don't think this is safe, Ralen can't you just explain it?" Jiang was concerned for Ralen's blatant disregard for life in this instance.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Shayne said as he ran to the cliff edge.

Dundra was concerned, even more so than Jiang and ran after Shayne, he skidded to a stop as Shayne plummeted. He counted to three and pressed the button. The wings unfolded as the others arrived at the cliff edge, Shayne was still falling, Ralen held his breath. Hanna couldn't watch so she buried her head in Silvers chest. The wings caught the wind and Shayne veered upwards, he found that by shifting his weight he could steer it, somewhat crudely but enough to turn it back towards the cliff.

He had climbed up above the cliff; the wind was strong enough to carry him high. He pitched the glider into a dive towards the cliff top, pulling up in time to land the glider, Shayne knew something was wrong the second he connected with the ground, his leg buckled and he went head first into the dirt, rolling end over end, the glider falling to pieces as he was smashed into it repeatedly.

When he came to a stop a trail of pieces and blood was left behind him. The others came running and he sat up, he tried standing but winced in pain at his knee.

"Shayne, are you okay? Can you walk?"

"Jiang calm down, I'm fine, I just need to walk it off" Jiang still insisted on checking his wounds.

She knew he was tough but the fact that his Aura wasn't activating properly made her worry. Dundra helped Shayne to his feet, he took a walk back along his wake, and he knew that something was desperately wrong; he should have healed by now. He collapsed from the pain in his leg and blacked out.

* * *

Ralen was working on the design of the glider when his attention was caught by a sound from the hallway. He crept to the door and listened.

"Dundra I'm worried about him, his Aura should have activated by now"

"I know, something is definitely wrong, he has seemed off ever since Cross attacked the school"

"Maybe it's something to do with him, didn't he say that he had a connection with Shayne through the Grimm?"

"Yes, but without Shayne being awake we have no way of knowing for sure"

"Maybe Jiang knows something that could help"

"Maybe, but we don't want to wake her now"

"It can wait a few more hours, I just hope that Cross doesn't unleash the old Shayne"

"I know what you mean, if 'He' got free again, who knows if we would be able to stop him again"

"Well let's just hope that that doesn't happen, goodnight Dundra"

"Goodnight Lance"

Ralen quickly stepped back to the glider as Lance walked in.

"What are you still doing up?"

"I'm trying to find out why Shayne got hurt earlier"

"Ralen, it can wait until morning surely"

He nodded and when Lance went into the bathroom, he left. He headed to the roof and climbed down the outside of the building, to SHDE's window. He jimmied it open and clambered in. He stood over Shayne, leaning in close to his left arm. The Grimm writhed under inspection, he held his hand over it and he felt a heat build in his hand, he knew the two were connected somehow, he just didn't know how. A sudden silence from the Twins at the end of the room concerned him, until he heard the click.

"Stand up slowly, and turn around" Vossler's voice echoed slightly.

Ralen did as he was asked and as he turned the pistol was lowered.

"What are you doing here Ralen?"

"I wanted to check something"

"And it couldn't wait until morning?"

Ralen shook his head.

"Well, I think you should go now, and don't do this again"

Ralen started to climb out the window.

"Using the door Ralen"

"Oh right, sorry" Vossler locked the door behind him and went back to bed.

Ralen crossed the hall and let himself into his dorm, lance was still awake.

"Hey, where'd you go?"

"I wanted to check something"

"And?"

"And nothing, I'm going to bed you should too"

Lance was sure that he was keeping something from him, but he said nothing about it.

The next morning tensions were high, the OP was scheduled to happen that night and none of the girls had any training with the glider. Ralen took them and taught them how to use them while Shayne was meditating under the ever watchful gaze of Lance and Dundra.

Shayne searched his mind for the mental links he had, Lina's was strong and active, so he didn't dwell on it just in case he gave away what they were doing that night. He found what he thought was the cause of his problem; there was another presence in his mind, besides his own, Nemea's, Lina's and 'His'. Shayne tapped into it and found something that angered him.

Dundra and Lance watched as Shayne slowly became enveloped in Grimm, he started smoking. Dundra opened a window. Lance crouched down next to Shayne, Dundra caught his wrist.

"We don't know what happens if we touch him when he's like this"

"Oh okay, I wonder what he's doing?"

Shayne was inside Cross's mind. He saw dark things, secrets about the Grimm, Remnant and himself. Shayne knew that this wasn't normal, that these weren't things that any man should know. He back tracked to his own mind, but found his way blocked by an unseen force.

'Shayne, how nice of you to visit'

'Cross, let me go, now'

'Not before I find something out'

'What do you want?'

'I want to know how powerful you truly are'

'No….' Shayne broke contact and severed the connection.

Shayne felt his power return to him, his Aura coursed through his veins; it fought for control against the Grimm, Shayne had to physically control it as if 'He' got free, it would be almost impossible to defeat 'Him' again. He didn't want to stifle his Aura again, but he had to, to keep a great evil from the world. Shayne gasped back to consciousness.

"Shayne, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good" he hopped to his feet.

"What happened?"

"I was in Cross's mind, he tried to force me to let 'Him' loose, I got the hell out as soon as he became distracted"

"But you started glowing, a weird purple-blue colour"

"But my Aura is dark purple, so why was it that colour?"

"Shayne, didn't you mix souls with Lina?"

"Yeah, and hers is a crystal blue, but I haven't seen it for months, she's not really been injured"

"So it could easily be a similar colour"

"Well, let's not stay on this; we've got the OP to deal with"

The others arrived a few minutes later.

* * *

Shayne decided he needed to do some last minute training before the OP. He called Lance, Dundra and Ralen to the training field, the sun was starting to dip towards the horizon. He bid them stand in a triangle around him. The sun sank lower and lower.

"Shayne, we need to get on with this otherwise we'll miss our window" Shayne silenced Ralen with a wave of his hand.

He looked up and stood ready. The trio attacked him.

Shayne didn't draw any of his weapons; he used the three of them to fight the battle. He dodged in split seconds causing blades to clash and catch on each other. Ralen saw what he was doing and thrust where he thought Shayne would dodge to, but instead found Dundra's shield.

Shayne set about winning the sparring match. The three watched as his Aura shone from him, he stepped back and it moved on its own accord. It ran forward, as Dundra tried to strike it, it stepped inside his guard and kneed him the jaw, sending him to the floor. Shayne's body then rag dolled and followed the spectre's exact movements. Ralen raised his crossbow and fired Shayne used Dundra's shield to deflect the bolt. He threw the shield at Ralen, who ducked under it, it grazed his back. Before he knew what was happening Ralen was falling, Shayne had rolled over his back and had pulled him after him, he planted Ralen firmly into the ground. The Grimm was writhing under his skin.

Lance had seen that Shayne was fast, but he was sure that he was faster. As Shayne walked towards him, Lance smiled and disappeared. Shayne stood ready. When Lance reappeared he hit Shayne once then teleported to another angle to hit him again. Shayne took several good hits but as always he was learning. After a few more hits he struck out with a sharp kick. Lance appeared and it caught him right in the chest. He flew back a few feet before landing on his back. Shayne stood up straight and bowed. He helped his allies up an smiled at Lance.

"You guys look like shit"

"Well that's what happens when you get pounded into the ground" Dundra said waving Shayne off.

"I hope I didn't hurt you guys too bad"

"Just a couple of bruised ribs, nothing I can't walk off" Lance said with a smile.

"Good, come on, we'd better get moving or we won't be there for the OP" Shayne took off at a run and Lance and Ralen ran after him, Dundra just walked.

* * *

They met the girls at the Bullhead and stepped straight it.

"Shayne you said you wouldn't hurt them"

"According to them I didn't" he smiled. He nodded to the pilot and he started to pull away.

"Wait, where's Dundra?"

"He'll be here, don't worry" the Bullhead began flying alongside the cliff. They were headed to a courtyard near to the storage facility.

They heard a thump on the roof, the pilot kept the airship under control.

"See I told you he'd be here" Shayne opened the rear door and Dundra dropped onto it.

He sat down and the girls all looked at him.

"What?"

"You two are crazy"

"Tell us something we don't know" Shayne clapped him on the shoulder as the door closed.

The pilot slowed as he reached the courtyard. Shayne opened the door and he stepped out onto it, followed by Ralen, Lance and Dundra.

"Stay safe guys" Eddi said, she couldn't look Dundra in the eye as of late.

"Likewise, c'mon Lance, stop making doe eyes" Shayne said calmly.

"I'm not making doe eyes" he complained as they dropped to street level.

As the airship started to pull away to drop the girls off, they all looked at each other.

"So, who was he making doe eyes at?" Hanna asked intrusively.


	16. Chapter 16

The Bullhead had to land some distance away from the place where the girls would be jumping. Once the Bullhead had stopped they grabbed the gliders and started walking.

"Okay, one of us is lying, Lance was clearly looking at one of us and it wasn't me" Hanna said walking backwards to look at the others.

"Hanna, if you keep that up you'll fall on your ass" Hanna stuck her tongue out at Eddi.

"Come on, were running out of time" Jiang said starting to jog.

They reached the overlook that Ralen had marked on their Scrolls. They helped each other with the straps and waited.

"I'm not dropping it; I wanna know who he was looking at"

"Hanna, shut up and concentrate"

"I am concentrating"

"Well then stop talking at least"

"I agree, Hanna we can still hear you, you know"

"Shit…" laughter resounded over the radios.

"Shayne, are you guys in position yet?"

"Almost, you should be able to see the van in a moment" the van pulled up to the kerb opposite to the facility.

"We see you, on your mark" the radios were silent as Shayne watched the facility, it seemed strangely quiet.

He got out of the van, as did the other guys. Shayne sent Blaine out to check. Eddi saw the beast and nodded to Jiang. Hanna took a running jump, kicking off the guard rail into a backflip.

"Woo hoo!"

Silver followed her over with a spin, Jiang and Eddi just jumped. They opened the gliders and sailed over the rooftops, they lined up with the building, then the gunfire started. Shooters appeared on the walls and opened fire on the guys out front. They were doing their job at least. A couple of shooters noticed the girls but Ralen took them out with his crossbow. Hanna, Silver and Jiang landed and shed the wings. Eddi as too high so she decided to use her talents elsewhere.

"Guys, I'm too high I'm gonna find a vantage point"

"Got it, girls go for it" Shayne said cutting a bullet in half.

They quickly made their way to the door, Silver put her ear to it, and she could her footsteps coming up. She hid round the corner and Hanna hopped up above the door, Jiang hid behind some ventilation ducts. The door swung open and two guards stepped out, Hanna dropped onto the second one, while Silver subdued the first one. They crept inside, making sure to jam the door open should they need it later. The halls were teeming with people, but they were also dark, Ralen had disabled the power earlier that day. They snuck around as many people as they could but they were spotted by a few, but they subdued them and hid the bodies. They were moving along quickly, the gunfire had stopped and they were running out of time.

"Girls pick up the pace; we had to fall back, as Lance took a bullet to the knee"

Hanna opened a door and got kicked in the chest, Silver swung at the guy who stepped through the door he caught her wrist and flipped her onto her back before kicking her into the wall. Jiang stepped between them as he brought his axe down towards Silver, she blocked the strike and her shield cracked. Hanna jump kicked him in the chest and he fell back into the room.

"Shayne, we've got a problem"

"Hanna, what's going on, talk to me!"

"It's Cross, he's here"

Shayne turned to the facility, his face one of surprise and fear, two emotions that didn't appear on his face normally. He sprinted at the wall, a few metres from it he drew his pistol and fired both barrels in quick succession, both cracking and punching a hole through it.

"Shayne! God damn it, Ralen, get after him, I'll stay here with Lance"

"Eddi, do you see him?"

"He just went inside, Ralen I can only give you covering fire, once you're inside you're on your own"

"You heard her, go!" Ralen nodded and ran for the hole Shayne had made.

There were recently deceased soldiers just inside the wall, one was cut in half, and Shayne wasn't leaving anything to chance anymore.

"Guys, Shayne's gone Grimm, he's killing now, be on your guard" nobody heard the transmission.

The girls were struggling against Cross, no matter how they tried to attack him he always either blocked or countered them perfectly.

Jiang was trying her best to keep his attention, she shield charged him in an attempt to force him back, but he kicked her shield as she came within range and pulled it from her grip, she stumbled and he grabbed her by the throat.

"You girls are meddling in affairs that don't concern you" he threw Jiang against a wall, and Silver jumped at his face.

He caught her mid-flight and tossed her against a table, he stood over her, brandishing his axe. Hanna, using her semblance got up behind him and put her blade to his throat.

"Let her go and you live to see another day" Cross grabbed her wrist and twisted his body.

She came flipping over his shoulder, landing upside down next to Silver.

"CROSS!" he turned Shayne stood in the doorway, his Katana dripped blood onto the floor.

"Just the man I came to see, Shayne, you know what I want" Cross took a knife from his chest and threw it.

Shayne was fast, but Cross was faster. It was mere inches from hitting Shayne in the face when it shot to the other side of the room. Ralen reloaded. Cross ran at Ralen and Shayne ran after him, Ralen looked up a split second too late. Cross drove a knife straight into his heart. Sliver screamed.

"Ralen!"

Shayne collided with Cross, sending him sliding across the floor, Ralen was thrown through a wall. Jiang made her way to the hole where Ralen had fallen but before she could see anything more guards turned up, she ran to Hanna and Silver.

"We need to go, grab what we came for and let's get out of here" Jiang said forcefully.

Hanna began rooting through the filing cabinets, once she found it the girls ran back to the roof. A large guard blocked their path, they skidded to a halt. A single shot pierced the night. It tore through his neck.

"Guys get moving, I can provide some covering fire but not a lot"

"Thanks Eddi, come on we gotta get going"

"I'm not leaving Ralen here"

"Silver there's nothing we can do now come on" Hanna grabbed her wrist and dragged her up the stairs.

Shayne squared up to Cross and was readying his blades, he would kill him for what he'd done. Before either of them could move the area of wall next to the hole Ralen had fallen through, exploded. Green flames licked the edges and the place caught ablaze. Shayne looked straight into the bright green eyes. They smouldered and smoked as Shayne's rage built, he couldn't stop it now, his eyes turned red like a Grimm. Cross noticed it.

"Yes, Shayne let it out, you know you want to"

Shayne faced Cross.

"You don't want me to let it out, as it first target is you" Shayne strode forward, but was cut short as a stream of green fire shot from Ralen's hand. It engulfed Cross and he dived out the window.

"Ralen, what the fuck was that"

They stare each other down. Shayne strode forward, his eyes still glowed red, his entire being burned hotter as he got closer to him.

"Ralen isn't here, only me"

"What do you mean, Ralen stop this we need to leave"

"I…am…Azrael!" he swung a black scythe at him and Shayne did a back handspring to avoid it.

"Okay, Azrael, if that how you want to play it" Shayne drew his Katanas and utilised a modification he had made.

He removed the grip from one and slotted the blades together, the blade was now twice as thick and since the extremely sharp blade acted as the cutting edge, and it would cut through almost anything now. They circled each other as the flames caught even more; sirens could be heard past the roar of the fire. They clashed, spinning and dancing around each other, the blades flashed and sparked as they collided. They were stopped as a supporting beam came crashing down between them. Guards appeared behind Shayne and Azrael leapt at Shayne, he ducked and Azrael sailed over his head. He took out three guards with a single swing of his scythe and continued swinging, Shayne had to dispatch several of the guards himself, cleaving them cleanly in half. He would regret this later.

Once the guards were dead, Azrael face Shayne again, and fell flat on his face. Shayne took a moment to examine him, it was Ralen all right but his clothes were different slightly. One side of his trench coat was down to his ankle while the other was its usual length, his hair had changed from his usual dark brown and had turned a dark black with green highlights, and it was also swept upwards so that it formed spikes.

He watched as they strange details burned away and Ralen returned to normal, Shayne felt his Grimm recede. He knelt down next to Ralen, he was breathing, Shayne didn't argue, he picked him up and jumped through the window, falling three stories and landing solidly, his aura pulsed as he healed instantly. Shayne ran past the fire fighters and the cops, to the van. Dundra opened the back and Shayne climbed in, putting Ralen down on the seat next to him. The van sped away into the night.

* * *

The girls reached the roof and grabbed the gliders again, they ran to the edge of the roof and jumped the glider carried them just over the wall and on a nearby roof where Eddi was waiting for them.

"Did you get what we came for?" Hanna held up the file.

"Come on, we need to get to the Bullhead, we're not done yet" Jiang said shouldering her glider.

"So that's it then, we're not even going to talk about that fact that Ralen's dead" Silver said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"What's here to talk about, he died and we didn't"

"How could you be so cold Eddi, he was your friend too"

"Silver, I've seen more than enough death to last a lifetime, but all I can do is move on" Eddi strode away. Hanna hugged Silver as they walked.

They reached the Bullhead and it soared over the city, the radios buzzed into life again.

"Guys what the hell happened?"

"It must have been Cross, what else could it have been"

"I don't know, but what happened after we got out?"

"The building caught fire and something happened that I'm not going to talk about over the radio, meet us at the location on your Scrolls, we're going after the next target tonight, and I don't care what we planned.

"But isn't what we planned to do anyway?"

"Oh shit yeah, I'm not feeling right after what I saw"

"Okay, we'll talk once we get there" the radio went silent again, Eddi had turned it off.

"Looks like we're getting changed" she banged on the door to the cock pit

"Keep it steady and don't open the door" the girls changed into their clubbing outfits, Hanna wasn't looking overly enthusiastic.

"Don't worry Hanna, I'll be here, it won't happen again" Silver kissed her softly and Hanna smiled slightly, she was taking a ceramic blade with her just in case. A red light came on over the cockpit door.

The back door opened and the girls dropped to the floor. The others were stood outside the van.

Silver looked at Shayne and he stared into her eyes, she bowed her head as he opened the side door of the van.

"I got him out, and it was weird he had taken a knife to the heart, yet he has no wound or scarring, when I picked him up he was breathing"

"That is weird, but that's not what spooked you is it" Hanna asked, knowing her partner as well as she did, she knew that it would have to be something extreme.

"You're right, before I picked him up he was fighting both me and the guards, he called himself Azrael"

"Like the angel of death?"

"I'm assuming so, does anyone know what he was like before he came to Beacon?" they shook their heads.

Ralen suddenly gasped and shot forward onto his knees in the van. Silver fell to her knees, this was almost too much for her to handle.

Shayne stepped up and helped him back onto the seat.

"Ralen, are you okay, what happened?"

"i-I don't know, the last thing I remember was Cross running at me"

"So you don't remember this…" Shayne rested his hand on his chest and let his memory pass into Ralen.

He saw himself, but he wasn't himself, he was dark and shadowy but it was him. He saw the control over fire and heard the words. 'I…am…Azrael'. He saw the death that he had caused, and saw what Shayne had done.

Shayne released the connection. Ralen shook his head.

"No I don't remember any of that"

"Um, I don't mean to be the one who says this but we're running out of time, if we're going to hit Junior tonight we'd better get going"

Shayne nodded and got in the driver's seat. The others climbed in; luckily the guys had changed before the girls got there. Shayne was leaving nothing to chance with this one; he was going in with the guys after the girls had charmed their way in.

Shayne needed to know how Cross knew where the file was, he wanted to know what was going on with Ralen, and he knew Junior would either know something or he would know someone who did.


	17. Chapter 17

The van pulled into an alleyway some distance down the street. The others got out while Shayne held Hanna back and closed the door again.

"You know you don't have to do this if you don't want to, no-one is going to force you"

"No, I'm doing this for myself; I'm doing this for Silver"

"Okay then, you knows your part of the plan?"

"Charm our way in and try not to get caught sneaking around, I got it"

"Well getting caught shouldn't prove to be too difficult once me and the guys are in"

They climbed out and Silver hugged Hanna, which caught her by surprise.

"The van's not soundproof you know" Shayne smiled as he walked over to Lance, Ralen and Dundra.

Shayne clapped Dundra on the shoulder and looked at Lance, he was gazing towards the girls again. He snapped his fingers and Lance blinked back to normal. He explained exactly what was going to happen to them.

"So, the girls are charming their way in, while we have to fight? That doesn't seem fair"

"Do you have a pair of breasts?" Shayne said cocking his head and looking at Lance, he looked down. "Thought not, now I know for a fact that Junior's got a heavier detail of guards with him, I don't know where he got them from and I don't care, we're only after him"

"What about the Malachite twins? Aren't they part of his 'entourage' as well?" Ralen asked, clearly having done his research.

"Yes, and I'll deal with them if it comes to that"

"Ralen, are you sure you're up to this? I'm not sure that after the incident at the storage facility you're up to scratch" Dundra asked, resting his hand on his shoulder.

"I told you, I don't remember what you're talking about and I feel fine"

* * *

"So, how are we gonna do this?" Hanna asked

"Do what?" Eddi said as she messed with her top.

"Charm our way into the club"

"Oh right, well, how about Silver and you use what you got and seduce the door man?"

"But we're lesbians"

"And a lot of guys are pervs, hell, just kiss a bit in front of the guy and he'll probably let us in straight away"

Silver gave Eddi a look and she laughed slightly.

"You know I'm right" they all laughed.

Shayne wandered over to them.

"You girls all set?" they nodded and he waved them off.

They crossed to the other side of the road and approached the bouncer.

"Hey, girls get to the back of the line, no cutting"

"Are you sure there's nothing we could do to get in now" Silver said innocently before turning her head to Hanna and kissing her softly.

The bouncer watched them for a few moments as they held the kiss, he became uncomfortable and adjusted his tie.

"In fact what am I saying, you girls look cold, here, go right in" the bouncer got abuse from the line of people next to him.

"Hey, I make the rules here, now quiet down or you're not getting in at all" he shouted.

Shayne and lance watched the scene from the shadows.

"Beautiful isn't it, 'I love it when a plan comes together' to quote an old guy in a movie I saw once"

"Yes she is….I um….er…mean it, yes it is beautiful"

"You know you don't have to keep it a secret from me Lance"

"What, I'm not keeping a secret"

"So you're not in love with Jiang?"

"Shit I forgot you knew"

"Well we'd better get moving, we haven't got a lot of time" Shayne started across the street and Lance, Ralen and Dundra walked after him. He squared up to the bouncer, who was easily a foot taller than Shayne was; he was also a lot more muscular.

"What do you want kid?"

"I want to go in"

"Then you'd better get in line with the rest of these people"

"You know, I would but I really don't like lines" Shayne flexed his neck.

He jump kicked the bouncer straight in the chest, sending him crashing through the door. Ralen Dundra and Lance slipped in through the hole, disarming the guards and subduing them with well-placed strikes. They were quick and efficient, that didn't stop them from having fun though. As Ralen and Dundra bounced a guard between their fists, lance was teleporting around three more; Shayne just strode through the wreckage and into the club itself.

The music had drowned out the commotion that they had caused on the way in. Shayne scanned the room, the girls were enjoying drinks at a table, and he couldn't tell if they were sticking to the plan or actually getting drunk. He paid no attention to it as his eye was drawn to Eddi's back, the last time he had seen her Grimm, it had warped her raven head tattoo. Now it was a full back tattoo, it was a pair of tribal wings, styled similarly to his arm; he decided to question her about it later.

He walked carefully into the crowd of people on the dance floor. This was why Lina was kept in the dark. He quickly found someone to dance with while the others spread out. Dundra covered the fire escape, Lance sat at the bar with a drink and Ralen meandered from table to table chatting up girls. He would have to stop at the girls table at some point so he got it out of the way quick. The girl Shayne had been dancing with was slightly drunk; she was rubbing up against him, trying to get him interested in her. She reached up and grabbed hold of his chin, she pulled his face down and tried to kiss him, he dodged the kiss. He kissed her hand and walked away, he had felt a hard gaze on him while dancing, and he knew Junior had seen him.

He ordered a whiskey from the bar and swirled it as Lance nodded slightly. The Malachite twins were walking towards him; Shayne downed his drink and got another.

"Hey you, wolf boy, come with us" Shayne glanced over his shoulder.

"No, I don't think I will"

"You will if you want to keep breathing" Miltia rested her claw on his shoulder.

Shayne downed his drink and turned to face them. They stared at him and he just smiled. He waved them off and followed after them. They led him out into the back where Junior was waiting for them.

"So kid, you come in here, put a good chunk of my security out of commission and then have the audacity to let the shift change find out what happened"

"And you're point is?"

"What do you want" Melanie grabbed his ear and he grimaced.

"You think me some ordinary kid? I attend Beacon, if you want to have a working hand I suggest you let go of my ear" Melanie just ignored him and twisted it.

"Now, I'm going to ask again, what do you want"

"Well now that you mention it there is something I want…" a guard came crashing through the door.

Shayne grabbed his boot knife and put it against Melanie's throat.

"So Junior, you know the odds of anyone leaving here alive, I have 7 guys in the other room waiting for me, so you're going to give me what I want or ill slit her throat"

Eddi and Hanna looked at each other, they knew he wasn't kidding so they got up, Silver and Jiang copied them and they set about causing a fight. Eddi decided to start on the girl Shayne had been dancing with. She pulled hair, she scratched and screamed, it was utter bullshit but it needed to happen. Junior waved Miltia out to go deal with it.

"But, what about Mel-"

"Go, before I have you fired or worse" she skulked out, Shayne was still holding onto Melanie.

"If I let her go can we talk?" Junior nodded, he didn't want to have to find another set of bodyguards. Shayne released her and she stormed out.

"Now, here's what I want" Shayne handed him his Scroll.

* * *

Melanie and Miltia pulled Eddi off the other girl and glared at them.

"Now you two cool it or we'll throw you out personally" Eddi turned to leave, Melanie grabbed her shoulder.

Eddi grabbed her wrist and back-kicked her in the jaw, she twisted under her arm and kicked her again, this time in the gut. Melanie dropped to her knees winded. Eddi had to back up as Miltia became enraged, she swung wildly at her, Silver caught her wrist and spun her to Dundra who held her arms securely.

"I'm sorry" she looked at him as the girls bound Melanie to a chair, the crowd had ran out of the club when Miltia had started swinging.

Ralen and Lance made their way to the back where Shayne was. They burst into the room and subdued the last of Junior's guards.

"Junior was just about to give me what we came for, weren't you?" Junior looked at the three guys before him, he nodded slowly and handed Shayne both of the Scrolls.

"We better get moving, the others can't handle the guards forever" thumps were heard as bodies hit the wall.

"Well it's been a pleasure Junior but I must be going"

"Tell Ozpin I say hello" Shayne stopped.

"So, you know Ozpin sent us, how?"

"You're kidding right, I know your face, it's been plastered over several police websites for the last couple of weeks"

"What are you talking about" Shayne turned, drawing his knife.

"You're wanted for questioning about the murders of four Faunus in Mistral; in fact I'm pretty sure that the cops are on their way right now"

"Guys, get the others and go" he handed Lance the two Scrolls.

"But Shayne…."

"Go now or I'll kick your ass first!" Lance reluctantly walked out followed by Ralen.

They got the others and they all left, Melanie was being freed by her sister. Shayne walked out accompanied by Junior. Shayne went upstairs leaving them on the dance floor.

"What's he doing?"

"He's waiting for the cops"

"So it is him"

"Get Roman on the phone, he's going to want to talk to him"

Melanie walked up the stairs while Miltia did as Junior asked.

"Hey, kid" Shayne looked up .

"You here to kill me?"

"No I'm here to offer you a way out"

"Now why would you do that"

Melanie thought back a few minutes to when he had a blade to her throat, something had stirred inside her, a deep longing. She heard voices in her head.

* * *

'He's not getting out of this alive, I've seen it, he will die on four counts of murder, nobody can help him now' the voice had scared her, she knew in her gut that it was telling the truth and she felt she needed to help this Faunus.

* * *

"I don't know I just want to help you" she sat down next to him.

"Okay, so what's this way out?"

"The roof, once the cops get in here you'll have to go across the rooftops"

"Sounds easy enough, what's the catch?"

"You have to do something for me"

"And what would that be?"

"Save us…"

"What do you mean?"

"You think we like working here, its hell and Junior is an abusive asshole"

"I don't know if I'll be able to do anything but if I can I'll contact you" she nodded and lead him to the roof.

"Oh before you have to run, what's your name?" she was stood next to him looking down the street; the sirens were coming closer by the second.

"I'm Shayne, and you're Melanie Malachite, I did my research"

"So you know my past?"

"Didn't go into it, I know that a friend of mine gave you and your sister a run for your money a while back"

"Shayne, can I ask you something?"

"I haven't got long but okay"

"Are you seeing anybody?" Shayne took off his ring and showed it to her.

"I'm engaged" she handed it back dejectedly.

"Oh okay"

"Something's wrong with you I can tell"

"It's nothing" Shayne looked at her and she turned away from him, he knew.

The cops pulled up in front of the Club and they quickly made their way inside.

"Go now, or they'll catch you" Shayne nodded and ran left off the edge of the building.

She watched him scramble up walls and over rooftops. She wished she had told him what she knew.

* * *

Shayne had stopped for a breather and was thinking.

'Well, this is only going to end badly'

Nemea's voice echoed in his mind.

'What's wrong my boy'

'This girl, Melanie, she has feelings for me, and as soon as I get her out she's going to make life difficult for me and Lina, I just know it'

'Well, we can only wait and see'

Shayne ran again, he could hear an engine nearby. The radio buzzed into life.

"Shayne where are, you, come in Shayne"

"I'm okay, I'm on the rooftops and I'm heading to the courtyard where we met up"

"Roger that, see you there"

Shayne dropped to street level and pulled his hood up. He walked the rest of the way, he met up with the others and they drove in silence to the Bullhead depot.


	18. Chapter 18

They slept well that night, all except Shayne. He stood on the roof of the dorms and watched the sunrise. The sunlight hurt his eyes and still he stared.

"That will damage your eyes you know"

"Ed, what are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep; you look troubled, what's wrong?"

"Lots of things honestly, I don't know where to start"

"Well start small then"

"Nothing I'm worried about is small"

"We've got time, I'm not going anywhere today" Eddi drew her pistol and started disassembling it.

"Okay, I'll start with something relevant"

Eddi sat down on an air duct and laid out the pieces in front of her. Once it was in pieces her hands became a blur as she put it back together, she locked her pistol back together. Eddi was the gunsmith for many of the students attending that year.

"The information that we got from both the storage facility and Junior, was useless, Junior's info was only names of other contacts, all of whom are now dead. The file we got from the facility, none of that is useful here, the school is just too close to the forest for any of it to be of any use"

"So, that entire thing was a waste of time!"

"I'm afraid so"

"Anything else?"

"Ralen, I think he's like me, I think he bears something that doesn't want him to know he's bearing it"

"You mean Azrael...the angel of death"

"Yeah, I'm going to try to talk to him later about it, try to get him to let me try something that might help him"

"I'm not even going to ask what that might be"

"Probably for the best, now onto something different, Melanie Malachite"

"What about her?"

"You know I got you guys to leave without me"

"Where's this going Shayne?"

"Turns out I'm wanted for questioning on four counts of murder in Mistral"

"Four counts? But you only killed Adam...holy shit; they think you killed your mom!"

"Yeah, so I may have to disappear at some point soon to deal with that, but getting back to my point, I got you guys to leave as the cops were coming for me"

"So it won't be long until they come here looking for you" Shayne nodded.

"Melanie and I got to talking after you guys left, she doesn't like you much, but she wants out of there, her sister too"

"What's this got to do with me?"

"You and your contacts might be able to get them out and even shelter them"

"That's not going to be easy or something I'm going to enjoy you know"

"Yeah, but can you help or not?"

"I'll do my best but no promises" she turned to leave.

"Oh, hey Eddi, what's with the wings?"

She turned around and tackled him to the floor before putting a gun to his head. She kneeled on his chest pinning his arms with her legs.

"When did you see that?!"

"Last night at the club"

She let go of his throat and holstered the gun.

"Well I was hoping this would never come out honestly"

"What would come out?"

Eddi leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. Shayne was taken aback at the kiss but since he couldn't move he couldn't do anything about it. Eddi released him and sat back, a solitary tear ran down her face.

"Shayne, I'm sorry, it's just since I left Dundra I haven't felt right"

"Eddi, I don't know what to tell you honestly"

Eddi stood up and walked to the edge of the building. She looked down at the water, almost a mile long fall.

"Eddi, it's not worth it, more than a few have done that before you and many more will do so in the future"

"So why does it matter if I do the same"

"Because your team will not abandon you, like your father did" she turned, tears welling up in her eyes. Shayne caught her as she fell to her knees in tears.

"How..."

"The kiss, I saw what he did to you, how he left you in the middle of the city, alone, I saw what those men did to you, before James found you..."

"Shayne, I'm sorry you saw that" she interrupted him.

"Don't be, I have a newfound respect for your strength, you overcame so much to get here"

"Umm, what's going on here?" Jiang had come looking for Shayne.

He stood up and Eddi tucked her knees against her chest. Shayne walked over to her.

"Jiang, Eddi's having a tough time right now"

"Why? What's wrong, anything I can help with?"

"Unless you know how to fix a shattered heart, there's nothing anyone can do" he looked over at Eddi and thought back to what he had seen.

* * *

_Eddi was seven, her mother had died three years beforehand and her dad had been drinking more often as time wore on. He had started to abuse her, mentally and physically. He beat her until she bled; he starved her, only giving her food when he remembered to. He left the roof over her bed damaged so it would drip water on her at night, keeping her awake for days on end. Then one night, she was in bed and she woke suddenly as he came crashing down the hall way._

_She hid quickly. He came barging in. He didn't bother to switch on the lights._

_"Where are you, you bitch! Get out here now!"_

_He started tearing up the place, throwing furniture at the walls, he tore the curtains down. A chair was thrown through the window and the wind flowed in, making the room cold._

_"I know you're in here! Come out now!"_

_He was met with silence and he left, slamming the door behind him. Eddi breathed a sigh of relief. A chair had landed on her and had cut her head open. She knew she had to get out but she didn't know how. She tore open one of the many stuffed animals and used the stuffing to stem the bleeding. She was young, not stupid; she had read several books on first aid so she knew what to do._

_The next morning she was clearing up the wreckage when her father walked in. Eddi turned, fear in her eyes. He scanned the room and a tear rolled down his cheek._

_ "My sweet innocent Eddi, I'm so sorry, I just miss her so" Eddi padded over to him and hugged him. He smiled and hugged her back._

_He may have been an abusive man but he still loved her._

_"I'm going into town, would you like to come with me"_

_Eddi nodded, she had learned to stay silent._

_"Why won't you talk to me? You have a lovely voice, much like your mothers"_

_They went into town later that morning. The town was buzzing as usual, people doing business and pickpockets taking from the rich and easily distracted. Eddi watched them all, gaining knowledge about the people and the area in which they found themselves._

_Her father had slipped inside a shop and she waited outside for him. When he didn't return she became worried, she remained where she was in case he came back for her. Time passed, as did a lot of people, some have her money and others just sneered at her. She didn't understand what was going on._

_Darkness fell and she became cold. She walked for some time before a voice in the darkness called to her._

_"Hey now, what's a nice young girl like you wandering all alone at this time of the night" she didn't answer him._

_The man walked under a street lamp and she studied him. He had grey stubble and a scar that ran the length of his face and down his neck, one of his eyes has faded to white. He wore dirty torn clothes and a red woollen hat that had what looked like sick on it, sick mixed with blood._

_"I'm not gonna hurt ya, I wanna help ya. Now, what's yer name?"_

_Eddi stared at him blankly._

_"Do ya not remember?"_

_She nodded once._

_"Well what is it girl?"_

_Eddi found a stick and wrote her name in some dirt._

_"Eddi, now that's an unusual name you've got there"_

_Eddi nodded again._

_"Why aren't ya talkin little miss?"_

_Eddi blinked once._

_"We'll I can see ya ain't gonna talk so I'll do all o' the talkin" he offered her his hand._

_Eddi took it somewhat reluctantly. They walked and she listened to his stories. They arrived at a dark building._

_"I have some friends here that'll just love ya, come on follow me" he said smiling._

_Eddi followed without hesitation._

_He led her to a large dark room, a trash fire burned at one end, three men sat around it staring into the flames._

_"Boys I've brought a friend to meet ya, this here is Eddi" he let her past and she walked over and walked to the fire._

_"Archie it's been a while since you brought a young one"_

_"Now Richie, she just a girl, no older than seven, can't ya let this one be"_

_Richie walked over to him._

_"No Archie, I'm not" he plunged a knife into his one good eye, killing him instantly._

_Eddi turned at the sound of his body hitting the floor boards._

_"Now, my girl, you're gonna do as I say or I'm gonna cut your little throat out, do you understand me" she nodded vigorously as the knife was pressed against her cheek._

_"Good" he grabbed her by the arm and forced her to the ground. _

_She struggled against his grip as he cut her clothes off. She cried as he hit her on the back of her head. She screamed as he tore her underwear off._

_Then he burst into the room._

_"You leave her alone!" A boy, no more than twelve shouted at him._

_The other two men had dragged Archie's body away and hadn't returned yet._

_"Get outta her kid, this doesn't concern you"_

_"Let her go, now!"_

_"And you're gonna make me are ya?"_

_He stood up and walked over to the boy. He punched him in the face repeatedly. Eddi saw that he had left the knife and made a decision. As the man tired of beating the boy Eddi pressed the blade against his throat and spoke for the first time in a long time._

_"Leave him alone"_

_"Well well, the little girl comes to her hero's rescue"_

_Eddi stepped around to face him, she whipped the knife across his throat and blood spurted from the wound. She turned to the boy and crouched down._

_"Thank you..."_

_"For what, you saved me" the boy said spitting blood._

_"If you hadn't come I don't know what I'd've done"_

_"I'm James, what's your name?"_

_"Eddi" she fell silent to the follow up questions._

* * *

Shayne snapped back to reality.

"Are you okay, you blanked me for a while there?"

"Oh, y-yeah in fine, just thinking about something" he walked back over to Eddi.

He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet. She walked back inside.

"Shayne, I don't mean to pry but what's going on with her?"

"Jiang, I'd love to talk about it but it's not my place to, now, you were looking for me?"

"Yes, Ozpin wants to see us"

"Well let's go tell him that last night was a waste of time"

"It was! Why didn't I know?"

"You were asleep when I read the files"

They walked to Ozpin's office, Shayne saw Eddi and Lina in the courtyard, Lina gave him a look that said everything. Eddi had told her what had happened and Lina was trying to Mao her feel better.

Jiang and Shayne arrived at Ozpin's office a few minutes later.

"Aah, just the people I was waiting for, well what have you got?" Shayne gave him everything they had gotten the previous night.

"Professor Ozpin, can I have a word?"

"Not now, Ms Goodwitch, I'm busy"

Glynda walked out and shook her head. The girl waiting outside hung her head.

"Is this it? This is all you got!"

"Ozpin, this is what you sent us after, I read it myself, it's all useless"

"Shayne, I expected better of you, now get out both of you"

"But professor..."

"Enough miss Ambeong, now I asked you both to leave"

Jiang opened her mouth to say something but Shayne stepped in front of her and pushed her slightly, she walked to the door without question.

As they left Shayne's eye was caught by the girl sat outside.

"Lina! What are you doing here?" She looked up and ran to him.

"Oh Shayne, it's my family, they've got my family"

"Hey now, calm down, now come on who's got your family?" She looked into his eyes. He saw the fear in her; the tears welled up and overflowed.

"The White Fang..."

Shayne's rage boiled within him. Lina felt him tense up.

"Shayne calm down, there's no need to blow up over this"

"There is every need to blow up over this" Shayne stormed into Ozpin's office.

"Mr Oceanstrider I asked you to leave"

"I'm not here about last night, I'm here about Lina!"

"And why would that be?"

"Her family has been taken by the White Fang; I want to help get them back" Shayne spat through gritted teeth.

"No"

"What!"

"No, I will not grant you leave to go to their aid"

"Why not!" Shayne planted his knife in Ozpin's desk.

"Because of this" he slid over a piece of paper.

Shayne picked it up and his face contorted in rage.

"I only killed Adam Taurus in Mistral"

"Well the police don't seem to think so, so I'm keeping you confined to your dorm until further notice" CRDL stepped into the room.

"You think they can make me go?"

"You will go, or nobody will be saving Miss Honeybloom's family, do I make myself clear" Shayne pulled his knife from Ozpin's desk.

He strode out. Lina clutched his arm all the way back to the dorm. When they arrived Shayne burst in and punched the table. Its legs splintered slightly.

"Out, all of you, now" Shayne commanded. All but Dundra obeyed.

"Shayne, talk to me"

"Dundra I said out" Shayne turned and stared down the barrel of Dundra's shotgun.

"Now talk"

Shayne explained the situation and Dundra listened carefully.

"So, you're confined here until Ozpin says so, and Lina's family has been kidnapped" Shayne nodded.

His eyes had a red tint to them.

"Shayne, let us help you"

"No, there is only one person who can help me, take Lina and the rest of the team and get her family back"

"Just the four of us?"

"Take whoever you need, but you're in charge"

"What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to sort this out, once and for all" Shayne holstered his pistol and pocketed his spare ammo.

"If I don't see you again, I'll take care of her" Shayne nodded and dropped out the window.

The others came in once Dundra opened the door.

"Where's Shayne" Dundra looked at the window and Lina rushed to it. She watched Shayne extend the glider and disappear into the trees.


	19. A note from me

**I'm so sorry about this but I have to slow down my upload pace for a couple of reasons.**

**1. I have injured my left shoulder in a road accident, while not serious it will mean that I can't write as much as I'd like.**

**2. The daily upload worked for a while but it just isn't enough time for me to have a chapter ready for you guys, so I'm going to slow down to a chapter every couple of days, maybe even one a week. I don't want to do this but I have to.**

**I'm not giving up this story, it has yet to reach its full potential, expect the next chapter on Friday of this week.**

**And thanks for reading.**

**-TheWolfbane987**


	20. Chapter 19

Darkness fell and Shayne emerged from the forest, he knew Ozpin would have most of the teams out looking for him; he didn't want this kind of publicity for his school. He looked down, a rooftop was fifty feet down and his glider had broken as he landed. He heard a rustle from behind him; he turned as a Beowolf leapt from the undergrowth. It stared at Shayne, he stared back, they looked at each other for a few moments until the Beowolf got bored and wandered off.

Shayne breathed out and gasped for air. He hated getting inside the head of Grimm; they were just beasts after all. He turned back to the cliff, he didn't hear the Boarbatusk. He was thrown from the cliff and he sped toward the rooftop.

* * *

Lina sat up all night in a panic, she wanted to get going but she was waiting on Dundra. Shayne had left him in charge and he was going around the teams seeing if anyone else wanted to help Lina out. He returned alone.

"So no-one wants to help us?"

"No, they want to help, but they've already been given orders by Ozpin to find Shayne and bring him back"

"Good luck to them with that" Vossler and Ashe wandered over to them.

"Don't you two have things to be doing as well?"

"Aye, we do, we go the same orders from Ozpin, but we're ignoring them"

"You know he'll find out"

"We'll deal with that when it comes to it" a knock at the door was heard.

"Dundra, it's me, Nelwyn" he opened the door and the rest of FLLN stepped in.

"I thought you guys couldn't come?"

"Only because Frank couldn't get up the balls to not do as Ozpin told him to"

"Hey, that's not fa-"

"Shut up Frank" Nelwyn looked at him, grinning evilly.

Lina stood up and looked out the window.

"Thank you all so much, I don't know what we're going to face but its not going to be easy without Shayne"

"Don't worry Lina, we can handle ourselves" Hanna said putting her arm over Lina's shoulders.

They watched the moon rise over Vale.

* * *

Shayne headed back to Junior's club, he needed information. The bouncer saw him coming and more security poured out of the door as he drew closer.

"Let him through, he's with me" Melanie pushed two of the guards out of the way.

Shayne nodded to her as he walked up to her.

"Shayne, is it time?" she spoke in a hushed tone.

"No, it's not time, I'm here to see Junior"

"He's not here right now"

"Bullshit, he's always here"

"Fine, but he won't want to see you after last time"

"It's not a question of want" she led him inside and upstairs.

"Wait here" Shayne nodded as she went through a black door.

It opened a few moments later and he stepped in. he stared down the barrel of Junior's Batzooka.

"You have to the count of three to get the hell out of my club"

"You know I'm not going to do that"

"One…" Shayne adjusted his footing.

"Two…" Junior flexed his trigger finger, the Malachite twins shuffled nervously.

"Three" Junior pulled the trigger.

Shayne's fist shot into the barrel, glowing purple and coursing with Grimm. The rockets collided with his arm and the weapon shattered. Flames flared around Shayne's fist. The twins ducked the shrapnel and Junior was thrown into one of the couches along the wall. The explosion disrupted the music in the club and it fell silent.

Shayne stood up straight as Junior regained consciousness. He strode up to Junior and stood over him.

"Where's Cross!"

"Who?" Shayne flexed his hand and the Grimm fluxed around his fingers.

"Alright, I know where he was but he left last night"

"So where did he go?"

"I don't know"

"You know everything that happens in this city"

"But he left the city, that's as much as I know"

"So, how did he leave the city? Which kingdom did he go to?"

"I'm telling you the truth; I don't know where he's gone"

"Shayne, you got what you came for" Melanie said, stepping up beside him.

"Fuck, well looks like I'm outta luck" a crash came from the direction of the club.

Junior barged past Shayne and looked through the one way glass, there were people tearing up the place and beating the crap out of the guards. Shayne recognised them from Beacon.

"Shit! Okay, I'll make you a deal kid, you get rid of these fuckers and I'll see what I can do to help you find this Cross guy" Shayne stared him down, he grabbed junior's untouched whiskey from the table and downed it. He fluffed his collar and strode out, accompanied by the twins.

"Keep out of my way"

"You think we're afraid of you?"

"You should be" Shayne drew his knife and tomahawk.

* * *

Lina and her friends made for the Bullheads as fast as they could, they all squeezed into one to avoid confrontation. Dundra knew the pilot and asked him to take them straight to the docks, he told him it was Ozpin's orders, and the pilot didn't question it.

Once the pilot had disappeared from sight they stepped aboard another of Eddi's favours, she had called in an old friend to ferry them discreetly to Managerie. It would take all night but he assured them they would get there by sun up.

"Eddi, I don't trust this guy"

"Lina, calm down he's saved my ass in the past and he owes me one, he won't fuck this up"

"You're sure of this?"

"Yeah, as sure as I'll ever be" Eddi stood up and walked to the other end of the boat, Dundra stood defiantly looking out across the ocean from the prow.

"Dundra, can I talk to you"

"Always, what's on your mind?"

"It's not something I want to say in front of everybody"

"Well, let's go below and talk" he walked down a flight of stairs and once they were sure they were alone Eddi spoke again.

"Dundra, I made a mistake"

"What are you talking about, nothings gone wrong?"

"Not about this or the Op, but with us" Dundra blinked in confusion.

"Eddi…"

"Let me finish, I made the mistake of breaking up with you, I thought I couldn't get close to anyone but the time I spent with you changed that"

"What're you trying to say" Dundra held her hands in his.

"Dundra, I want to get back together" he smiled and kissed her gently.

"Let's not let this distract us from helping Lina"

"Okay, but I think I can finally be happy now"

A bang was heard from the deck above them. They ran up the stairs, the boat was surrounded by the White Fang.

"One Miss Honeybloom I presume?"

"No that's me, where are my parents?" Lina said emerging from the lower decks; she had been sleeping up to now.

"They're safe, for now, you'll come with us, all of you"

Eddi looked around at the Faunus that now surrounded them, she nodded and they were separated. FLLN on one boat and SHDE and the Genesis twins on another.

* * *

Shayne opened the door silently and stepped in, he held his hand up to the Malachite sisters making them stay out there until he was ready. He left the door open a crack and turned back to the four students that were fighting the guards.

"Stand down" all heads turned to him.

"Shayne, Ozpin wants you back at Beacon now!"

"I know he does, why do you think I'm here"

"We don't want to hurt you Shayne"

"You sound sure that you're going to win"

"Look at the facts, we've got you outnumbered and you're not really going to use your semblance on us are you"

"I've been killing for a long time, you forget I'm 3 years older than you, I've killed many people"

"And that's why we need to take you back to beacon"

Shayne raised his arms, weapons in hand. The four others readied themselves as Shayne started walking towards them.

The twins watched through the crack in the door as he went to work. He was a blur of steel and bone as whenever one of them got anywhere close to him they always seemed to be flung away in a different direction than they had come from. After a few minutes, he settled and the red tint left his eye, he had taken a lucky hit to his left shoulder, the Grimm was tired and he was bleeding, his Aura wasn't going to activate anytime soon either.

"Hey kid, you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch"

"I'll get you what you want, just get out before I have to call Beacon about you"

Shayne nodded and handed Melanie his number and strode out into the night.

* * *

He walked out into the early morning. He walked slowly, he knew he was being followed; he wanted to test them and see how good they were. He slowed to a halt outside and alleyway. He smiled and sprinted down the alley; he kicked up off the walls and got onto the rooftops. He stopped at the top and looked down at his tracker.

"Come get me, if you can" he walked away from the edge as the stalker scaled the ladder. He reached the edge of the rooftops as they reached the roof.

"Shayne, stop" he turned to him.

"You know better than anyone that I'm not going to do that" a blade was pressed against his throat.

"You don't want to move, Lance has you in his sights"

"So, AGIS is going to bring me back to Beacon, back to my imprisonment"

"Ralen, Silver, get the cuffs" Shayne was restrained and knelt before them.

"What are you doing?"

"Meditating"

"Why?"

"Lance isn't here yet and you can't leave without him" Jiang looked at the two team mates opposite her.

They engaged in a hushed conversation some distance away from him. Shayne concentrated on the cuffs and the Grimm seeped into the mechanism, corroding it. He slipped his bonds and pocketed the cuffs. As Lance walked up to his team and they continues talking Shayne stood up and walked away.

* * *

"So what are we gonna do with him, we all know he doesn't want to go back"

"I think we take him someplace safe, I know of a place that might be worth a look" Ralen said pulling out his Scroll

"He doesn't like safe, he prefers danger, as it keeps him on his toes"

"Um, I don't mean to burst our bubble here but he's gone" Silver said walking to where he had been knelt.

She sniffed the air and shook her head. Ralen walked over and tried to use something he had learned in the forest, he listened for anything unusual and he looked at the footprints on the damp roof. He followed them to the roofs edge. The others followed him and stood next to him.

"We've lost him haven't we" Lance asked Ralen just nodded.

"Lost who?" all four turned to Shayne, now sat on a ventilation duct.

"What, how?"

"Cuffs aren't really that reliable" he tossed them to Ralen.

"Corroded, your Grimm I suppose?" Shayne nodded and walked over to them.

"Burger?" he said offering a brown bag to them.

"You broke out of your restraints and went to get fast food?"

"I was hungry" all but Silver grabbed a burger from the bag.

"You not hungry White Lion?" Shayne said cocking his head.

"Tiger…" she said scowling at him.

"I know, White Lion sounds better though"

"I prefer my meat with a bit more life left in it"

"Rare steak then?"

"Very rare" they shared a smile that left the others feeling awkward.

"Okay, so now what"

"I'm leaving, and you guys are going to report that you didn't find me"

"Shayne, we want to help you"

"Nobody can help me with this, it's between me and Cross"

Four figures landed behind Shayne.

"We've been looking for you Shayne, Ozpin sent us"

"I know who sent you Ruby, he's been sending teams after me all night"

"You four had better not be helping him" Weiss snapped.

"So what if they are, they've done nothing wrong"

"Aiding a fugitive is a criminal offence, it won't be ignored" she snapped again.

"Weiss, that's enough" Yang said pulling on her shoulder to stop her from acting rashly.

"I've killed better fighters than you; I don't want to have to fight you"

"Then don't, come quietly" Ruby pleaded

"Blake surely you understand my position better than anyone else"

"I do, but orders are orders"

"Jiang, take your team and go"

"But Shayne…."

"Now!" he snapped, he turned as he said it.

RWBY drew their weapons in readiness. Shayne drew his katanas and stared at RWBY.

"This is your last chance, give yourself up, we are authorised to use force"

"No, this is your last chance, let me go and I won't have to hurt you"

Weiss speared across the distance and Shayne merely parried the thrust, Weiss had never fought him before and hoped to get him on the back foot, she failed. He stepped past her as Ruby swung at him; he ducked under the scythe and swept her legs out from under her.

Yang and Blake knew him well enough to attack together. As Shayne hopped over Blake's sword swipe, Yang punched him in the gut. He flew back a few feet but landed on his feet. The four girls regained their composure as Shayne planted his swords in the roof and removed his jacket. He had acquired a necklace from Lina before she had left, it was just a small silver knife, and it hung loosely on his chest in the space where his shirt was unbuttoned.

He flared purple and looked at the four girls. They stared back at him. He ran at them and they all swung at the same time. He slid under the weapons and whipped their legs out from under them. Only Blake remained conscious.

"Shayne, stop, why are you running"

"Because Ozpin is an ungrateful asshole"

"He's trying to protect you"

"I can protect myself"

"Shayne, go now, quickly before they come round"

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because I made a promise to Lina before they left, I promised I wouldn't let them take you, Silver and Velvet also said the same thing"

"So, I'm just someone who needs protecting then"

"Everyone needs protecting"

"Thank you Blake, I hope to see you all again soon" as he dropped from the roof he threw Blake his necklace and followed Silvers scent to a parked Van, he recognized it instantly.

The door opened and he stepped in.

"I see they didn't take you in"

"Nobody can"

The van pulled away and they headed out of the main part of the city and into the suburbs.


	21. Chapter 20

The small fleet of boats pulled into a quay on the furthest reaches of the island. They students were cuffed and had had hoods placed over their heads well before they arrived. They were lead up into the side of a cliff and deep into a system of caves. They were settled into a large room and had the hoods removed, Dundra strained against the cuff as he looked around at the walls, they were stained with blood and the room stank of rotting flesh.

"Welcome my friends welcome" a dark skinned bat Faunus said as they became accustomed to the gloom.

"Where are my parents?!"

"They are safe for now, come I will take you to them" FLLN was nowhere to be seen, but they followed the strange Faunus anyway.

They were lead through winding passages, Dundra had to duck under several supports, he was concerned for Lance, he was bigger than him and he was only just fitting through some of these halls.

As they entered a large room Lina ran to her parents, they were tied to chairs at the far end, Eddi halted Dundra and Hanna from following as guards closed in on them.

"Please, let them go, they've done nothing to you!" Lina cried as she examined her father's badly beaten face.

"You think this is about you and your family?"

"This is about Shayne again isn't it" Eddi said, her normally quiet voice echoing around the room.

The dark skinned man turned to her as Lina was secured to a chair.

"You're very astute aren't you?"

"You know he won't join you, so why do this, why try again?" Hanna asked, shrugging off her captor and stepping forward.

"Because I'm acting under orders, I really don't want to hurt such a beautiful young lady but I must, or they'll have my head"

"Touch her and I'll tear your head from your body myself!" Dundra roared as the chain of his cuffs began to creak.

"Now, now, Mr Foreman, there's no need for that, now, on your knees or I'll start cutting throats"

Dundra leaned forward to run at him, but Eddi stepped in front of him and stared him down. He fell to his knees and Eddi turned back to Lina, she was looking around hopefully, so Eddi complied. Hanna was arguing when a door exploded into splinters.

"Everybody on the ground now or we start busting heads!" Frank held his halberd at the ready as Lance adjusted himself after shattering the door.

FLLN stepped in and there was a stand-off as none of them made a move. Eddi noticed a small rustle from behind her and held her wrists out, her cuffs loosened and she returned her hands to the position they had been in to avoid arousing suspicion. The Twins snapped the necks of the guards watching over SHDE and dove forward as Dundra snapped his cuffs and tackled the Bat Faunus through a table. Eddi ran over to Lina's parents and slid under a guard as Hanna landed on his shoulders, his head between her thighs, she leant back and twisted her body, he flipped into a wall, and a sickening crunch was heard as he dropped to the floor.

"Dundra tie him down" Eddi shouted as she cut Lina's parents' bonds.

"Lance, help him out" Frank walked over to the destroyed door and watched for more guards.

Once everyone was free, Eddi stood opposite the Bat Faunus, one of her long curved knives in hand.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Supenilu, leader of the Managerie branch on the White Fang"

The Genesis twins were rooting through boxes and drawers looking for anything they could sell, they found a mask and started messing around with it, and they interrupted Eddi's interrogation.

"Hey, put that down, that's mine" Supenilu barked as they darted around the others.

"Wait a second, let me see that" Lina took the mask from Vossler and she remembered the guy from the factory.

"What is it Lina?" Frank said, concerned for his partner, he hadn't seen her for a while and he was happy to just be able to spend time with her, even though this wasn't ideal.

Lina walked over the Supenilu and grabbed his throat.

"You….you were at the factory"

"I don't mean to be rude but what factory?" Ashe asked

"Me and Shayne came back here after his grandfather was killed and we tracked the White Fang to a factory on the south shore, this guy was there, but he just claimed he was a captive and left"

"Now I remember you, I knew id met you before today"

"Eddi, do both Shayne and I a favour and kill him"

"Lina…"

"Please?" Lina let go of his throat and walked back over to her parents.

"W-wait I can pay you, i-I can get you anything you want just please, don't kill me" Supenilu broke down into tears as Eddi stepped forward.

"I know you as well; you are wanted for crimes all across the world"

"Ed, how do you know that?"

"I used to be a bounty hunter remember, well his bounty is something like 500,000 Lien"

"Shit, that's a ton of money" the twins looked hopeful as Eddi turned to face them all.

"Eddi, if you can't kill him, let me do it" "Dundra stepped to her as she played with the knife.

He held his hand out for it and she looked him in the eye. She turned on her heel and plunged the knife into his skull, piercing his forehead and exiting out the back of his skull. The crack was sickening; Lina's parents looked on in horror as Eddi wrenched the blade from his head. Dundra put a black sack over his head and left him there as Lina crouched down in front of her parents.

"Where's Jethro?" she said, her voice cracking as she said his name.

"We don't know, they took him away out the way your friends came in"

"We heard someone shouting on the way here, they sounded young" Nelwyn said after swallowing a bit of an apple she had found in a bowl.

"That'll be him; did you see anything that could help us find him?" Lina asked walking over to Nelwyn

"A guy ran past us on fire on the way here, that any help?"

"Yes, oh Lina, he's got your great grandfathers semblance"

"That's both good and bad right now"

"Why?"

"My grandfather's semblance was somewhat unstable, he could cloak himself in fire and he sometimes couldn't control it"

Eddi and Dundra shared a look and walked to the door, sure enough there was a bright light coming from down the passageway.

"Lina, stay here with your parents, we'll go get him"

"No, I have to get him, he's my brother"

"Fine, Ashe, you and your brother stay here with FLLN, anyone comes in here, you know what to do" she nodded at Eddi as she and Dundra left accompanied by Lina and Hanna.

* * *

Shayne and AGIS drove for what seemed to be hours, but in reality it was only about half an hour. Shayne was waiting but he didn't want to sit around doing nothing. As they pulled up to a large house in the middle of nowhere Shayne noticed regret in his eyes, Shayne knew this place meant something to him, but he didn't know what.

"Come on; let's get inside before somebody notices us"

"Who's gonna notice us, we're in the middle of nowhere"

"There are eyes everywhere" Ralen looked into one of the trees and squinted, he shook his head and strode up the steps to the door.

His team just shrugged and followed after him, Shayne stopped and looked where Ralen had been looking, he knew something was there so he climbed up the tree and found a camera. He pulled it free and smashed it against the tree. He dropped to the ground and came face to face with Ralen.

"I told you there were eyes everywhere"

"Ralen, what is this place?"

"I don't want to talk about it, now come on, we need to work out what's going on"

They walked up the stairs to the door, Shayne felt something here, he couldn't tell what, but it felt warm against his heart. As he walked in the rest of AGIS were settling into their normal routine, Lance was checking the windows for sight lines, Jiang was looking at the various items around the old house, and all were covered in dust. Silver was being nosy upstairs, Ralen went to talk to Lance about how sure he was the place was secure and Shayne went upstairs to see what Silver was doing.

"You know it's not polite to root through peoples things"

"I thought this place was abandoned?"

"So you haven't seen the look in his eye then?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I think this used to be Ralen's house"

"There's only one way to find out" she smiled and tried to walk past him, he blocked her path and she folded her arms and looked at him.

"He doesn't want to talk about it, so why don't we have a poke around and see if we can find anything"

"And by we, I guess you mean me?"

"Aren't you a clever kitty" he smiled and she swung at him.

"You know I don't like that"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist it"

"Fuck you Shayne" she said as he pushed past him

"You have no idea" he said to the empty room before going back downstairs.

"Ralen, I need to talk to you"

"Sure Shayne, what's up?"

"Well it's about you…"

* * *

Eddi Dundra Hanna and Lina, sprinted down the halls looking for Jethro. Hanna skidded to a halt and Dundra turned to face her.

"What is it Hanna?"

"This way!"

She shot off down a dark corridor and the other girls followed suit, he couldn't fit so he ran off looking for another way around.

They slowed to a halt and Hanna ran her fingers over the wall.

"Ash, he's been this way for sure"

"JETHRO!" Lina shouted into the gloom

Silence and an echo resounded around them. Lina listened for any sign of anyone in the areas surrounding them. A small light bloomed down one of the passages, Hanna set off after it while Eddi went back to look for Dundra. Lina sprinted past Hanna and caught the small boy quickly. She skidded to a halt as he was coated from head to foot in orange flames.

"Lina wait up, we'll find hi-…" Hanna trailed off as she caught up with Lina.

"Jethro, it's me, Lina, your sister, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you"

The nine year olds eyes flared and more fire pooled on the floor. Lina held out her hand, the boy cocked his head and placed his hand in hers, as they made contact the flames began to recede, until Jethro fell forward into her arms. She picked him up and carried him out to Dundra, who took him from her as they walked back to her parents.

"Oh thank god, you found him, is he hurt please let me see" Dundra crouched and sat the young Faunus on his knee.

"Lina, was he, you know?"

"Yes dad, he was, I think coming to Vale is probably the safest thing to do now"

"Why, just so you can torment us by being with 'him'!

"I knew it, you never liked Shayne did you mom?!"

"No, I didn't, I knew he'd bring trouble to our door, and lo and behold, here we are"

"that's enough, I agree with our daughter, we should go to Vale, we can put him into Signal and he can learn to control it"

Lina's mother lost it; she grabbed one of Eddi's knives from her thigh and held it to her throat.

"Anyone moves and this one gets it, now, we are going to go home and you are coming too Lina, you're not going back to him, I forbid it"

"Forbid this" Eddi said jabbing her elbow into Lina's moms ribs.

She flipped forward kicking her in the chest as she rolled out of her grip, she fell in to Lance who held her arms securely. Eddi took her knife back and rested her hand on her neck.

"I give to you, the true leader of the Managerie branch of the White Fang" Eddi said as her Aura closed the cut on her neck.

"How could you, after all they've put us through in the past"

"I just wanted my family back, Shayne tore it apart when he met you Lina"

"no, you tore it apart by lying to me for three years and now this, you're not my mother, you look and sounds like her, but you're not her" Lina walked out to the boats, she killed any who blocked her path.

Lance dropped Lina's mother and FLLN followed her out. Lina's father took Jethro from Dundra and looked at his wife, he shook his head and dropped his ring onto the floor, he went with SHDE and the twins back to the boats, they commandeered one and headed back to Vale.

"Lina, what do we do now, your brother and I"

"You live, I'll be nearby if he gets out of hand, as will Shayne"

"I thank you all for what you did"

"Is there a reward?" Ashe asked, Vossler pushed her playfully and she pushed him overboard.

"What?" she asked comically as the boat slowed to a halt to pick Vossler back up.


	22. Chapter 21

"Shayne I've told you before, I don't remember doing any of what you're talking about" Ralen said, he was annoyed that Shayne was still pushing this.

"But you did and I want to find out more about this Azrael"

"And the way you propose we do it is insane, I'm not dying so you can do an experiment!" Ralen's voice echoed around the woods.

"Which is why I've brought you out here"

"What are you talking about?"

"These woods caught fire many years ago according to what little information I could find with my limited access"

"That can't be helped I'm afraid lad, if we are to keep you safe until this whole murder thing blows over, we need to leave as little traceable clues to us" Prof Krishtov strode out from behind a tree.

"Niko, good to see Ozpin hasn't got you trying to bring me back"

"Oh he has, I'm just not going to"

"What are we doing out here dammit!" Ralen was getting frustrated.

"You don't remember do you?"

"Remember what?"

"Don't you remember he fire; don't you remember the Beowolves and the men who shot you?" Niko said gesturing wildly.

"No, the last thing I remember is waking in that village with no idea who I was or where I came from. You gave me a name and a life, you housed me and for two years, you were the only family I had and the only friend I knew" Ralen sat down on the log next to Niko.

Shayne sat down between Niko and Ralen.

"What happened that night?" Shayne asked looking to both of them.

"Well, I was sent to this forest to deal with a Grimm infestation…"

_'I was on my here when I saw on the horizon the distinct black smoke of a forest fire, gunshots echoed across the valley accompanied by screams of pain and fear. It was hard to keep moving through the trees as the fires raged around me, the screams were the only thing that kept me going._

_ I found an old dirt track that wound its way between the trees. I followed it, Painsaw drawn and ready for anything. I entered a clearing, my vision blurred and my breathing heavy from the smoke but I could make out three bodies on the track, one somewhat more distance away from the other two. As I made my way over to them I became aware of others around me, there were several men fighting Beowolves and losing, badly. I turned back to the bodies, I had to force myself not to throw up as their heads had been removed, the largest was a man, maybe 40. The two smaller ones were a woman and a child, I'm guessing the mother. I never found out who they actually were. I turned as the last of the men fell to the Beowolves and raised Painsaw._

_I watched them carefully as they spread out slightly. Suddenly they burst into flames, their death screams pierced the air as the smoke cleared and the flames died. I looked past the smouldering corpses of the Grimm and saw a boy, as we made eye contact he collapsed to the ground. I ran over to him, his scythe faded under my gaze. I examined him; he had taken several bullet wounds to the chest and more than a few cuts to the arms and legs._

_I didn't know how, but he was breathing. So I picked him up and carried him to the village and to the inn where I was staying. The doctors healed him as best they could, once they left I used my Aura to do what I could, the boy woke several hours later. I asked him some questions and he remembered nothing about the forest or what had happened up to that point. I took him under my wing and he's been with me ever since.'_

Ralen's head was in his hands, Shayne stood up and stretched.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Ralen asked from inside his hands.

"I didn't feel that the time was right"

"So why now?"

"Because Ralen, I'm trying to help you, and the more you know about yourself and your past the more I can do that" Shayne said, bouncing from foot to foot, he was getting restless.

"Ralen, let him in, I think he can actually help you, you've seen his Grimm at work"

"What if I don't want to be helped?"

"Then that's your decision, but you're not stupid enough to not want to know what Azrael actually is are you?"

"I need time to think, I wish to be left alone" Ralen strode away into the trees headed back to the house.

Shayne and Niko walked back together discussing how they were going to do this.

* * *

The boat pulled up at the docks of Vale, they were approached by the harbourmaster.

"You kids can't leave that there, it's gotta be moved, now"

"Move it then, we don't need it now"

"Ok, I'm calling the cops, don't move, any of you" he hurried away into his office and the group continued walking.

Jethro was slung over Dundra's shoulders allowing Lina and her father to talk.

"Lina, you know how I feel about Frank…"

"Dad don't worry, he's changed, I trust him now, Shayne does too" her dad looked dumbfounded.

"Well, that's….good I guess" Lina smiled and hugged her dads arm.

"I forgot to tell you, Shayne asked me to…"

"Lina, this isn't the time, tell him when Shayne's not on the run" Ashe said walking backwards and putting her hands behind her head.

"Wait a second, Shayne's on the run! Why?" Eddi stopped and stood in front of them.

"We'll talk about this someplace else, it isn't safe here"

"Why? What's he done?"

Frank walked over.

"He's suspected of murder in Mistral, now come on, Eddi's right" everybody looked at Frank.

"Since that's the case, I think we should hurry up" Jethro was waking up and he wanted to be somewhere where nobody would get hurt.

They quickly made their way to the Bullheads to take them to Beacon, Lina was worried about Shayne, she hadn't heard from him at all for the last couple of days. She decided that she'd talk with the teams that were hunting him for Ozpin and see what they knew.

* * *

Ruby and Yang were headed back to their dorm to talk to Blake, they knew she'd let him go and they wanted to know why. They reached their door and they heard shouting.

"Why did you let him go Blake?"

"I can't tell you"

"Tell me now dammit!"

"NO!" Blake shouted.

Ruby and Yang walked in as Weiss drew Myrtenaster and held Blake against the wall.

"What's going on here?" Ruby asked sternly as Yang closed the door.

"I'm trying to find out why she let Shayne go the other night"

"Weiss, this isn't the way to do it, put the weapon down and step back" Yang said, as calmly as she could.

Weiss reluctantly pulled the tip of her rapier from Blake's neck and took a few steps back across the room. Blake nodded to Yang in thanks and moved towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Yang said blocking her with her arm.

"Yang, let me past" Blake looked at Yang pleadingly but Yang held firm.

Then there was a knock on the door and Ruby opened it swiftly.

"Hey guys, can I have a word?" Lina asked peering through the gap at the rest of RWBY.

"We're a little bu-…"

Yang pushed Weiss onto her bed and she stopped talking.

"Sure Lina, what do you need"

"I want to talk to you about Shayne"

"I'm leaving" Blake said before pushing past both Yang and Lina.

"What's up with Blake?"

"Oh nothing, now what do you want to know?"

"I actually needed to talk to Blake most of all, but you guys should be okay, have you seen Shayne at all?"

The three girls shared a look, Lina waited for an answer.

"Lina, we actually found him, but he wouldn't come quietly so…"

"We had to fight him…"

"I didn't expect him to be so fast, I could barely touch him, I need to train harder" everyone looked at Weiss, she was having her own conversation with them that they weren't actually part of.

"Guys, you did what was asked of you but what happened?"

"He beat us all, we blacked out, all but Blake, she let him go, he went with AGIS and they've gone off the grid, I'm sorry"

"Okay, well, I'll talk to you all later, I'm going to find Blake, bye" Lina waved as she left.

* * *

Shayne and Niko got to talking on the way back to the safe house.

"So what happened to Painsaw?" Shayne asked looking at Nikos strange sword.

"I need the option of falling back if I need to, so Ralen built this for me" Niko drew his blade and with the press of a button it transformed into a riot shield.

"I can see why that'd be useful"

"Necessity is the mother of invention and all that, I call it Riot-Breaker"

"Indeed it is" Shayne looked past Niko and as quick as lightning drew his pistol and shot past his head.

The bullet just missed Niko's head as it left the barrel of Shayne's pistol and hit a Beowolf in the eye. Niko reacted and pulled Shayne of of the path of a leaping Beowolf deflecting it with Riot-Breaker. Shayne stood up straight and drew his katanas. At least twenty Beowolves were visible in the tree line with who knows how many in the shadows behind that.

"I'm going to make a tactical decision and say we run" Niko said, definitely worried about the number of Grimm watching them.

"We run and they kill us, plus Ralen is still out here, we can't leave him"

"So what do you suppose we do?" Niko said circling to make sure that at least all the Grimm were being watched.

"I start killing and you find Ralen, I'll meet you back at the safe house"

"There's too many Shayne, you'll die"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, I need to work out some anger anyway" Shayne said rotating his shoulders.

"Good luck kid, see you on the other side" Niko said stowing the shield and sheathing the sword before Shayne leapt at the nearest Beowolf slicing its head clean off.

Niko ran as Shayne span left and right cleaving the Grimm into pieces. He threw one of his katanas and the force of the throw took the Grimm it hit and dragged it along with it, taking three more out before sticking in a tree. Shayne was set upon by four Beowolves at once and he was forced to the ground. They bit his arms and tore at his jacket, he was thankful he'd brought his armoured variant.

One went for his neck and his eyes flared red, the Beowolves backed away in fear as he rose to his feet. He looked around at the cowering Grimm and smiled, as they tried running he used the Grimm in ways he had never used it before, he sent out a lash of pure energy and it caught one of the Beowolves around the throat, with one hand he punched the ground and spikes of Grimm came from the ground impaling more of the fleeing Beowolves. He turned to the whimpering Beowolf stil caught in his iron grip. He squeezed its neck, slowly crushing its windpipe and choking it to death. Shayne dropped the corpse and walked towards the safe house. The red left his eyes and he fell flat on his face, unconscious.

Ralen and Niko walked through the carnage that Shayne had caused, Ralen pressed on without hesitation but Niko, slowed to a halt and looked around at what Shayne had done. Grimm body parts hung from trees and adorned the track, blood was dried into the dirt and the leaves dripped it into the grass. The Beowolves that had been impaled were still mounted on the spikes and blood was running down them as they were still bleeding out.

"Niko, get over here, he's out cold" Niko left the carnage and went to Ralen's side.

"Here, help him up onto my shoulders, we'll treat him back at the safe house, we don't want this to be associated with us"

"But they're just Grimm"

"But this, this was cruel" Niko said walking away Shayne slung over his shoulders.

Ralen looked back at the corpses of the Grimm and knew Niko was right, he set the place ablaze an caught up with Niko, the fire would purge the rea of Grimm and leave no trace of them.

Shayne's subconscious was in turmoil as 'He' was standing too close for Shayne's liking.

'Yes…..embrace me and I will give you more power than you can dream of….." Shayne swiped at 'Him; and he backed off.

'Shayne, you need to control yourself'

"Don't you think I'm trying, this is harder than ever now that I've gotten him trapped again?"

'You will embrace me boy' 'He' said, his voice echoing throughout Shayne's mind.

"No, I will never embrace you; I care too much about my friends to do that"

'Shayne, you need to purge again, you know it is the only way'

"I need time, now leave me in peace" Shayne settled into a dream as he was carried back to the safe house.


	23. Chapter 22

Lina found Blake in her usual hideaway in the library, tucked up and reading a book. Lina walked straight up to her and put her Scroll between the pages.

"Lina, I told you that once I know something you'll know something"

"You made a promise not to lose him, you must know something"

Blake put her book down in annoyance and looked up at Lina.

"All I know is that after he beat us he left with AGIS headed east"

"What's east?"

"I don't know, a dead forest and a wasteland, nothing out there that would help him"

"Well it's a start, Blake why didn't you tell your team, maybe they just want to help him"

"No, they don't, they mean well but they're just following orders"

"Thank you Blake, he's always liked you, you know"

"I know, but be careful Lina, Silver is a temptation to him, you may want to keep an eye on her"

"But she's with Hanna isn't she?"

"Since when has being in a relationship ever stopped someone from getting laid"

Lina looked thoughtful and then quickly walked away. Blake opened her hand and looked down at the silver blade. She knew he had meant for her to give it to Lina, but she couldn't let it go, it was too beautiful. She turned back to her book and tucked the necklace away in a pocket on her waistcoat.

* * *

Shayne awoke to a friendly and familiar face above him. He was in a bed in the safe house; he had bandages over some wounds that were refusing to heal.

"…Silver?"

"Hey, are you okay? Ralen and Mr Krishtov turned up and you were out cold"

Shayne tried sitting up and cringed, Silver helped him to sit back against the head board.

"Apart from these, I'm fine; I just had to work out some anger is all"

"Ralen said it was a massacre, that there was corpses and limbs strewn everywhere"

"I can lose control sometimes and that can happen"

Silver sat beside him in her bed clothes. Shayne looked at her face as the moonlight streamed in through the curtains. She noticed him looking at her.

"What? Have I got something on my face?"

"No, you're fine" Shayne leant forward despite the pain and planted a kiss on Silver's lips.

Silver was taken aback slightly by the kiss at first but as he started to pull away, she followed him back despite herself. As she felt herself pushing down on him as he had fully laid down, she shot back up and hurried away.

Shayne lay there on the bed, somewhat confused and conflicted. He'd only kissed her slightly and she had continued making out with him. He couldn't get up to stretch his legs so he slept again.

* * *

Silver ran from the room where Shayne was bed bound and ran to the room on the third floor where she had put her things. She slammed the door and leant back against it.

'Why did I do that?' Silver thought to herself as she began to pace the room. She could still taste him on her lips.

'Silver get a hold of yourself, you're with Hanna now' there was a knock at the door.

She composed herself and walked to the door smiling to herself. She stopped just in front of the door to compose herself again, just to be safe. She opened it to find Jiang stood there in a dressing gown.

"Hey Jiang, did I wake you?"

"I think you woke everyone, but I've come to see what's got you so flustered"

"I'm not flustered, I'm fine" Silver said trying to brush the conversation off.

"You clearly are, may I come in?"

"I can't stop you, so yeah, come on in"

Jiang stepped inside and sat down on the bed. Silver sat in an armchair in the shadowy part of the room.

"So, tell me what happened…" Jiang asked.

* * *

Ralen closed the door quietly so as not to wake Shayne. He sat down next to Shayne on a chair that had been brought up earlier that day.

"You obviously came in here to talk to me, so you can either sit there in the dark or we can talk, your choice" Shayne said without opening his eyes

"Sorry, I thought you were asleep"

"You'd have to be a lot quieter coming in to catch me asleep"

"I guess so" Ralen chuckled.

"So what is it you want?" Shayne said sitting up.

"Oh, right, Silver came running out of here earlier, and I want to know why?"

*sigh*"Fine, I kissed her, I only meant it to be a quick kiss to sate my feelings for her but she held it, not me, she pulled away and ran out the door, that's it I swear" Shayne watched Ralen as he got up and paced the room a few times.

"I won't tell Lina about this, and I'll ask the others to do the same"

"Thank you Ralen, where is Silver I want to talk to her?"

"Do you think that's wise, considering what you just told me?"

"I just want to talk to her, before you go, could you pass me Blaine's crystal, I need to charge it"

"Sure" Ralen released the Dust crystal from its mount on Shayne's jacket and handing it to him.

Shayne rested the crystal on the palm of his left hand, allowing his Grimm to flow into it. As it regained its charge it rolled and flung itself into a stable position an inch above his hand. As it settled and the Grimm stopped flowing from his arm, Shayne shifted his position on the bed and swung his legs off. He began glowing purple as his Aura healed his wounds. He stood up.

"Blaine, come" a single tendril of Grimm leapt out from the newly charged crystal and Blaine appeared from the pool it had created. The large wolf hound shook himself and yawned. Shayne put the crystal back into its mount and slung his jacket over his shoulders. He walked out into the hallway, Blaine at his heels. Ralen was still processing what he had just seen.

* * *

Lina decided that she would try the mental link with Shayne to find him. She found the quietest place in the library, where Blake usually liked to sit and read; she settled down in a comfortable position and focused. She pulled on the mental tether to him; it was faint so she knew he was far away.

She pulled on the connection and she felt herself flying across the landscape, she made note of landmarks as she wanted to go see him. She found him in a large house in the middle of nowhere, as she entered his mind she felt he was in pain. She looked through his eyes to see him kiss Silver, she felt the kiss as Silver held it as they lay down; suddenly she shot up and ran out.

Lina returned to her own mind and a tear rolled down her cheek. She got up and went to find Shayne's team. She ran all the way to the dorm and slammed the door closed. Hanna was the only one there; she put down her books and went over to Lina who was packing furiously.

"Lina, what's wrong?"

"I can't believe he did tha…" her voice trailed off into a mumble as Hanna tried to turn her around to look at her.

"Lina, please just talk to me, what happened?"

Lina pushed past her and headed for the door, Hanna had had enough. She threw a Kunai at her and it stuck in the door. Lina turned on her heel and took one step towards Hanna before collapsing to her knees. Hanna slowly walked over to her and helped her to her feet. Lina hugged her tightly.

"He kissed her…"

"Who, who kissed her"

"Shayne…."

"Who did he kiss?"

Lina looked at her friend in the eyes.

"He kissed Silver"

Hanna stared blankly through her and Lina helped her to the couch.

* * *

Shayne knocked on the door of Silver's room. Silence followed. After a few moments the door was opened.

"Shayne! What are you doing up, you should be resting"

"Jiang, I need to talk to Silver"

"Let him in Jiang"

"But I don't think tha-"

"I said let him in!" Silver shouted.

Jiang stepped aside to let him in, as he stepped into the dark room she left them alone, Jiang bumped into Ralen.

"Jiang, have you seen Shayne?"

"Yes, he's talking to Silver"

"Ah fuck, you know what happened between them don't you?"

"Yes, they need to talk it out"

"If you're sure then I'll wait out here" Ralen spotted Blaine sat outside the door and crouched down next to the wolf.

* * *

Lina and Hanna sat in silence contemplating what to do.

"You know where they are?" Hanna asked Lina nodded.

"We'd need some way to get there"

"I'll find something, but I think we should tell Dundra an Eddi at least" Hanna said as Ashe walked in, looking tired.

"Hey guys, what's got you two so down?"

"Nothing Ashe, we're just tired" Lina said trying to drive the conversation away from the real reason. Ashe folded her arms and looked at them both in turn.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you don't trust us"

"No, it's not that, I think something has happened and it's not good whatever it is"

"You are just like Shayne; you know things without them being said"

"Don't all women have that ability?"

"Shut up, now do you want to help or not?"

"Sure, so what are we doing?"

"We're going to find Shayne and AGIS, and we are going to have some words" Hanna said filling all of the Kunai holders on her person.

"Sounds fun, I'll just get more ammo and we'll go"

"I thought we were waiting for Dundra and Eddi"

"I'll activate my GPS and let Eddi know, they'll catch up"

The three girls grabbed what little they needed and set off to the Bullhead to take them into Vale.

* * *

Shayne stood in front of the window, the moonlight casting long soft shadows on the floor. Silver was still sat in the deep armchair. Shayne turned to face her; he was just a silhouette on the moon from where she was sat.

"Silver, what was that earlier?"

"I don't know Shayne, when you kissed me I just couldn't help myself"

"I shouldn't have kissed you in the first place, I've already made arrangements for the others to not tell Lina or Hanna about this"

"You know she already knows don't you"

"Yes but as long as they know it wasn't their fault I'm okay with it"

"I hope this won't be irreparable"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what if Hanna breaks up with me and Lina breaks up with you"

"Then I won't argue with her, but I'll try and talk Hanna down, as I'm sure that they are on their way here right now"

"Then we'd best get our stories straight"

"No, we don't need to as they already know"

"I don't want to just sit here doing nothing, im going for a walk"

"Then at least let me come with you"

"And give them more reason to think we're cheating, no thank you"

"Well, I'm still going with you"

"Ugh, fine, suit yourself"

Silver stood up and stormed out.

"Silver?!" Ralen said standing up suddenly.

"Not now Ralen, I'm not in the mood" she strode down the corridor and thumped down the stairs.

"Blaine, go" Shayne shouted, the large wolf followed after her with Shayne hot on its heels.

Ralen watched them all go striding off into the night.

* * *

Hanna opened the garage door, inside sat two motorbikes and a car under a dust cover.

"I made a bit of cash before coming to Beacon, Ashe take the bike over there, I'll take this bike, Lina can you drive?"

She nodded and pulled the dust cover off the sleek sports car, she didn't recognise it at all, and the badge was some sort of flower. The bags went on the passenger seat of the car. Once they were ready they sped off into the night with Lina leading the way in the car.

* * *

Eddi and Dundra arrived back at the dorm some hours later after their date. Eddi saw the note on the table and took out her Scroll, she located the others instantly, and she logged their heading and told Dundra.

"They're going to do what?!"

"I know, now come on, we've got to be the voice of reason"

"We're taking my car then if we stand any chance to catch them before they get to them" Eddi tossed him his keys and they ran to the stairs down the cliffs. They were only to be used in emergencies but they felt this qualified.

Dundra got his car and Eddi admired it, '69 Camaro SS, jet black. She climbed in and as they sped off down the road, they left cars blaring their alarms in their wake.

* * *

Shayne and Silver stood on a ledge looking out over the valley.

"Shayne why do you do what you do?"

"I do it because I have to, because I want to"

"That's not what I mean, why do you shut people out all the time"

"I don't though"

"Yes you do, you shut me out not five minutes ago"

"That was different, I don't like thinking about the past"

Silver sighed and looked out over the valley; she squinted as the sun crested the mountains. In the clear morning air engines were clearly audible.

Shayne took a small spyglass from a pocket and looked for the source of the sound.

"Well, it's almost time to face them, they're almost here" he handed the spyglass to Silver.

Hanna's hair was billowing in the wind from under her helmet. Lina was in a car, her face was indistinct. The other rider was unknown to both of them, they had no distinguishing features about her, and she was completely covered in biking leathers.

An even louder engine roar was heard over the motorbikes and the sports car. A loud bass note, it echoed around the valley like Nemea's roar. Silver looked to the source and handed the spyglass back to him.

"Looks like Dundra and Eddi are here too"

"I didn't know he had a car, it's nice"

"Well, we'd better get back and prepare for the coming arguments"

Silver nodded and dropped into the forest again. Shayne looked at the sun and ran back through the tree tops towards the house, Blaine lazily followed after them.


	24. Update

**Sorry for the erratic updates guys, ive had a lot on my plate recently and its stopped me writing a lot. in other news, this story is coming to a close soon, maybe 2-3 chapters at most, its just time for it to finish now i think. its been a fun ride but i have other things i want to try so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks.**

**As always, thanks for reading.**

**-TheWolfbane987**


	25. Chapter 23

Lance, Jiang and Ralen were getting anxious, Shayne and Silver weren't back yet and SHDE was bearing down on them, it wouldn't be long until they arrived. They let out a sigh of relief as Blain bounded out of the treeline.

"Do you think they know they're coming?" Lance asked adjusting his sights for the fiftieth time that morning.

"I'm going to say yes, judging by the speed which they are walking" Jiang said, watching Silver struggle to keep up with Shayne as he powered across the yard.

The door slammed and Silver strode straight up the stairs, ignoring her team completely. Shayne sat down on the stairs and watched the door.

"Uh, Shayne, are you two okay?" Jiang said, obviously concerned.

"I'm fine, Silvers just panicking about Hanna"

"So you know they're coming?" Ralen said sitting next to him.

"We saw them just before we came back, they aren't far out now"

"Hang on a second, I thought we were off the grid here, how did they find us?" Lance asked to the room.

Shayne just looked him in the eye. Lance remembered his eyes; he had a mental link with Lina.

"So that means…..oh shit, she knows doesn't she" Shayne nodded.

"Shayne, what are you going to do?" Jiang asked looking out the window

"If what I think is going to happen happens then I'm going to have to fight Hanna"

"Why would you need to fight her?"

"You know her, impulsive and emotional, she's going to be angry and I need to absorb as much as possible before she talks to Silver" Shayne slung his jacket over a chair.

He checked over his tomahawk for damage. When he was done his put it back in its loop at his waist. Shayne ensured his gauntlets were tightened properly and oiled. He finished his checks as the girls pulled up on the dirt road.

"Go upstairs, all of you, silver is going to need support soon" Lance and Jiang went without question, Ralen stood at Shayne's side.

"Well, it looks like Azrael will have to wait wont it"

"Ralen, just go" Ralen patted him on the shoulder and bounded up the stairs.

Shayne waited at the foot of the stairs. The house was silent, as if holding its breath. The silence was shattered as a motorcycle came crashing through the door, barely missing Shayne as it crashed into the stairs. Hanna landed in a crouch.

"Hanna, calm down, let me expl-" Hanna silenced him by leaping at him slashing with her sword.

Shayne ducked the blade and caught her wrist. Hanna fired the chain blade at him; he dodged it, only barely. The blade smashed through a window, Hanna whipped her arm back and it wrapped around his throat. Shayne could feel himself losing consciousness. There were some loud, heavy footsteps and the chain snapped.

There was some shouting and Shayne shook the blackness from his vision and stood up shakily. He saw Dundra and Eddi arguing with Hanna. Shayne staggered to the door, Lina was sat on a tree stump stroking Blaine. Shayne rubbed his throat and walked over to her.

"Lina, you know what should happen now"

"Yes I do, but it won't because it doesn't have to"

There was a crack and Shayne turned as a bullet tore through his chest. Lina screamed and AGIS and the others came running. Ashe had been making sure that the area was secure and she came running over as well. As Shayne bled out of a bullet to the chest, Lina cried, her tears dripping onto his face. Dundra and Lance went in search of the shooter as Jiang and Eddi tried to get the bullet out. A second shot pierced the air and Lina fell to the ground.

Lance and Dundra found the shooter, along with at least 40 other cops. They were taken into custody and taken back to the house. When they arrived Shayne was back in bed.

"Guys, what happened, is he okay?"

"He'll live, but he won't like the news he's going to get when he wakes up"

"Why, what happened?"

Eddi looked to a white sheet on the floor. A tear ran down her cheek.

"She's dead; her aura had no time to activate"

Several hours later back at Beacon, Blake received a message. She put her book down and ran to Ozpin's office. She banged on the door until it opened.

"Professor, they found him"

"Good, now maybe we can put this all behind us"

"There is something else"

"And what's that Miss Belladonna?"

"It's Lina, she's dead"

Ozpin stared out the window.

"Good day Miss Belladonna"

Blake shed a tear and left silently. She returned to her dorm and sat down on her bed looking at the small necklace in her hands. She should have given it to Lina when she had seen her. The rest of RWBY came in and saw her. Yang and Ruby sat either side of her and she told them what had happened.

Shayne woke up several hours later; he knew something was wrong as he was back at Beacon. He sat up quickly and regretted it, shooting pains screamed from his chest where he'd been shot. His memory flashed back to what had happened.

All he remembered was getting shot and then lots of shouting and sounds of violence before another shot echoed around the area.

Shayne shook his head to clear his vision and tried standing up. His chest sent more pain across his system but he ignored it and staggered towards the door. He was reaching for the handle when it was opened suddenly.

"Shayne, what are you doing, you need rest" Hanna said putting his arm over her shoulder.

"No, I need to find out what happened, is everyone alright?"

Hanna was silent and looked at the floor.

"Hanna, what's wrong, what happened?"

"Come with me, I think you should talk to Ozpin"

Hanna helped him to where his gear was and signed him out of the medical bay of the school. Shayne let Blaine walk with them. As they arrived at Ozpin's office Shayne could tell something was wrong, there were lots of other students there, all ones he knew were friends with Lina and himself. They looked at him as he strode past them all and walked straight into Ozpin's office.

"Ah, Shayne, I was wondering when id be seeing you here"

"What the fuck happened Ozpin?!"

"You ran and the police found you, what they did afterwards had nothing to do with me"

"Bullshit, you knew where I was right from the very beginning"

"Calm down, I wasn't expecting you to go there, that was Ralen's fault"

"You still haven't told me what happened"

"Once the police moved on you there was nothing I could do, you were designated to be shot on sight"

"I know that, I've only seen Hanna, what happened to the others"

"Almost everybody was taken into custody; Hanna was the first to be cleared"

"What about Lina?"

"I'm sorry Shayne, she didn't make it…"

"WHAT! What did you say? How didn't she make it?!"

"Shayne, she took a bullet in the chest and it stopped her heart, she died instantly"

"You mother fucker Ozpin, I'm going to kill everyone who had a hand in this"

"Turns out your friend Cross was the one who pulled the trigger on you both"

"Then he's going to die" Shayne stormed out.

He pulled up Juniors number and called him, he had the information Shayne required, Shayne said he would be there as soon as possible. He stopped by at the dorm only to run into Ralen outside the door.

"Shayne, where are you going?"

"I'm going to go kill Cross"

"On your own?"

"Yes, it's my fight and mine alone"

"You can't beat him alone, I'm coming with you"

"Fine, just don't get in my way or fall behind"

They arrived at the club a few hours later, Ralen waited by the back door as Shayne went inside.

"Shayne, what happened to getting us out of here" Melanie whispered to him as they climbed the stairs to Junior's office.

"I have bigger problems right now but I promise, I'll get you out"

"What happened?" Miltia said stopping short and grabbing his arm.

"My girlfriend is dead, Cross killed her, now I'm going to tear his fucking head off" Shayne said, in the flattest and most serious tone she had ever heard him use.

She let him go and he stepped inside the office.

"Here you go; he didn't leave the city after all"

"Thanks, next time we meet, I won't be so friendly as I have been"

"If we meet again, I'm gonna buy you a drink, this guy's good kid, I don't think you'll be able to take him down"

"Don't worry, I'll bring him down if it kills me" Shayne said before turning to the door.

Junior swung his bat at Shayne's head; he ducked and turned on his heel to punch Junior in the gut. As junior keeled forward breathless Shayne grabbed his collar and threw him backwards into a chair. Shayne left junior in his office, he didn't close the door as the twins stepped in after him and kept up the charade that they cared for him.

Shayne looked at the address and panicked, he ran down the stairs and out past Ralen.

"Shayne! Wait up!" Ralen shouted as he ran after him.

Shayne wasn't paying attention, he had one thing on his mind, and that was protecting Lina's dad and brother. He was pounding the pavement as fast as he could, leaping over bins and benches and dodging people. He did a quick calculation and determined even at this pace he wouldn't make it in time to save them, if they weren't already dead. He stopped dead and waited for Ralen.

"Shayne…..what's wrong…god damn your fast" Ralen said between breaths.

"We won't make it like this, I'm going over the roof tops, you find a vehicle; meet me here as soon as you can" Shayne said handing Ralen his Scroll.

Shayne proceeded to climb the building next to them while Ralen ran off to Hanna's lock-up where she kept her bikes. He busted the lock open and jumped onto the nearest bike, he swore as he didn't have a key, he knew she must have a spare around somewhere so he started rooting through drawers and cupboards until he found the keys in a solid titanium strongbox. After some examination he determined that the locking mechanism was just steel, so using his fire he softened it until he could just pull the box open. He grabbed the key to the bike and pushed the bike outside; he pulled the door down and sped away to the address Shayne had given him.

Hanna's Scroll beeped as she got a message from the owners of the lock-up that she rented.

'Your lock-ups been broken into and one of your bikes has been stolen, come down whenever you get the chance'

"Ugh, not again" Hanna said under her breath.

"What's up?" Silver asked as they stopped walking through the halls of Beacon.

"One of my Bikes got jacked out of my lock-up again"

"Well we're done with classes today, so do you wanna go deal with it now?"

"No, I got a better idea, my bikes have trackers on them, so why don't we go have a little chat with the guy" Hanna said starting towards the dorms.

"Sounds fun, I'll come with you, I really don't want to do my homework"

They headed off to the dorm. They changed into a more comfortable attire and Hanna picked up some Kunai's from the crate she kept under her bed. Hanna lead Silver out to her lockup anyway, they would need some way to find this guy whoever he was and taking the car was the easiest way to do that. As they arrived at the lock-up Hanna could smell fire on the air. She opened the door to her locker and swore.

"Fuck, why do they always take my favourite one"

"It's okay Hanna, now how do we track this asshole"

"Okay, gimme a sec" Hanna fiddled with her Scroll and opened the program to track her bike.

It showed a red blip headed deep into the bad part of town, it seemed to be circling a particular area.

"Silver, call the others, if this is where I think it is, we are going to need all the help we can get"

"Who should I call?"

"The rest of your team and mine, don't forget the twins"

Silver stepped outside and made the calls. While she was doing that the blip came to a stop outside a building.

"We're coming for you asshole, I want my bike back" Silver walked back in.

"Shayne and Ralen aren't picking up"

"Its fine, we'll have enough with just the others"

They climbed into the car and as Hanna started the engine she noticed Silver looking at the interior.

"Before you ask, no, we are not having sex in the car later" Hanna pulled away in search of the thief.

Dundra, Eddi and the twins were outside on the commons at beacon trying to enjoy the sunshine. None were feeling particularly happy, what with Shayne laid up in the medical unit and Lina dead. So when the call from Silver came through to Eddi they were all thankful for the distraction from their thoughts.

"We'll take my car, it's the only one that'll fit all of us" Dundra said standing up. Vossler grinned at the mention of Dundra's car; he had always loved muscle cars.

Dundra helped Eddi up and went to get his keys. The others headed off to meet him at the car, while they were waiting Eddi got the address to where Hanna wanted them all to meet them. Eddi and Vossler had both tried to get in touch with Shayne, both to no avail. Once Dundra arrived they got in and they set off.


End file.
